Institutionalisation of the common gas market in the context of institutional evolution of the Eurasian economic union

The chapter addresses some of the aspects of the ongoing institutionalisation in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Having briefly overviewed the history of the EAEU formation, it describes the overall institutional environment of the EAEU and characterises the contemporary stage of the EAEU’s economic integration depicting the impediments and the opportunities for the latter. The rest of the chapter is devoted to exploring the common gas market (CGM) recently endorsed by the institutional provisions of the EAEU. In doing so, it analyses contemporary gas relations within the EAEU with application of the most recent data published by the Eurasian Economic Commission, examines the CGM’s model and its principal institutions as they are envisioned. This chapter discusses potential benefits and concerns of the economies engaging in the CGM, as well as speculates on possible developments involving third parties. It concretises those through the analysis of the most salient issues of the CGM’s formation as they relate to gas price, pricing, competition and others. The chapter argues that despite long existing constraints for integration in the EAEU due to mainly the factor of the member states economies’ structural similarity, institutionally compatible economies display their intention to progress beyond supranational institution-building to include sectoral initiatives, within which the studied example of the CGM falls. The chapter demonstrates that the CGM exploits the existing institutional complementarity among the respective national gas sectors and extends Russia’s somewhat more advanced institutional arrangements to the projected common gas market.