Gas Industry Regulatory Frameworksin BRICS Countries

Аннотация

This article presents the results of a comparative legal analysis of gas industry regulation in BRICS countries.In addition to the description of gas production in these states, the author provides a general overviewof the sources of regulatory environment in the gas sector and discusses the co-relation issues betweeninternational and national laws. The nature of legal regulation of natural gas production, transportation,distribution and trade forms a significant part of this research. The author’s conclusions derive from thedescription of legal constraints within natural gas export and import. Firstly, all BRICS countries need todevelop their respective gas industries. Some BRICS countries, like Brazil, South Africa, and, to someextent, India) are radically reforming their legal systems, while others are trying to solve their problems byopening up to government and private investments within the existing regulatory system (China and Russia).Secondly, all BRICS countries currently have high level of monopolization in production, transportation,distribution and trading (to varying degrees). However, only in Russia monopoly is legally enshrined in thearea of gas export. Thirdly, it appears that all BRICS governments understand the necessity to create acompetitive market environment and are taking appropriate actions. Fourthly, all BRICS countries have corruptionproblems, as well as problems with government failures; therefore, the effect of the reforms in theshort-run will depend greatly on the political will of each respective government and to a lesser degree onthe quality of legal regulation.