Russian New State Firm To Offset US Hegemony

The merge between Russia?s state companies Gazprom and Rosneft will create a huge global company Gazpromneft, which will be bigger than Petroleos de Venezuela and comparable to Saudi Aramco.

Russia intends to play a more robust role in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe and Asia. It is buying up strategic infrastructure companies, such as pipelines, refineries and electric grids, as well as ports in Georgia, Hungary and Ukraine.

Moreover, there are hopes in some quarters that Russia?s energy, supplemented by Iran and Venezuela, can power a global coalition with China and the Muslim world to offset U.S. hegemony.

Russian officials have hinted that 20 percent of Yuganskneftegaz would be sold to China. Moscow, meanwhile, is enticing Japan to pay a whopping $12 billion for the Nakhodka pipeline, a delivery system that could create competition for Russian oil between China and Japan in the Far East.