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UID:pretalx-wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026-PSRAXV@pretalx.com
DTSTART;TZID=KST:20260627T152000
DTEND;TZID=KST:20260627T154000
DESCRIPTION:After the Second World War\, the primary energy source in indus
 trialized countries shifted rapidly from coal to oil\, and from the 1960s\
 , gradually to natural gas. Unlike coal and oil\, which could be traded gl
 obally without direct connections between suppliers and consumers\, transp
 orting natural gas required dedicated infrastructure such as pipelines or 
 specialized LNG facilities. Natural gas was\, in this sense\, a "relations
 hip commodity" (Gustafson 2020).\nThis paper analyzes the relationships\, 
 networks\, and negotiations surrounding the transport of Iranian gas betwe
 en Iran and the Soviet Union\, West Germany\, and Japan during the 1960s a
 nd 1970s\, drawing on newly accessible archival documents from Moscow\, Be
 rlin\, Prague\, and Tokyo. When Iran considered exporting associated gas i
 n the 1960s\, the Soviet Union became a natural partner\, since pipelines 
 were technically far easier than LNG. Although itself a gas producer\, the
  Soviet Union needed energy for the Transcaucasus\, and the two parties ag
 reed to construct the Iranian Gas Trunk Line I (IGAT I). Following its suc
 cessful launch\, Iran continued negotiations for further gas exports with 
 other countries. West Germany responded positively to a transit pipeline t
 hrough Soviet territory\, while Japan considered importing Iranian LNG to 
 supplement supplies from Brunei. Amid the oil crises of the 1970s\, Irania
 n gas became a global commodity that the Shah sought to export at high pri
 ces by playing off industrialized countries from both sides of the Cold Wa
 r divide. Ultimately\, a Soviet–West German alliance won the deal\, and 
 construction of IGAT II began. The Iranian Revolution of 1979\, however\, 
 ended this Eurasian gas project. Left unrealized\, IGAT II nonetheless dem
 onstrates how quickly natural gas became a trans-Eurasian relationship com
 modity\, foreshadowing the later Siberia–Western Europe gas pipeline.
DTSTAMP:20260412T123921Z
LOCATION:Room 201 (Seats 42)
SUMMARY:The Global Gas Game: The Soviet Union\, West Germany\, Japan\, and 
 the Politics of Iranian Natural Gas\, 1965–1979 - Jun Fujisawa
URL:https://pretalx.com/wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026/talk/PSRAXV/
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