Oil and gas industry of Siberia in terms of the regions and federal center interaction in the 1990s (on the case of the Siberian Accord interregional association)

The article explores the problems of the Siberian oil and gas complex in terms of building the mechanisms of interaction between the federal center, regions and industrial sectors. In the context of developing market relations, federalization and Siberia's changed geopolitical role, a complicated conflict not reducible to the opposition of supporters or opponents of the market reforms began to unfold around the oil and gas industry. It was a conflict of interests of unstable (mobile) groups, namely, the central and regional authorities, local governing bodies, general directors of the industry's enterprises and the local population. However, they realized the need for compromise as the consequences of extreme confrontation would threaten the system's integrity and would not be beneficial to anyone. The Siberian Accord Interregional Association, having the administrative, economic and scientific potential, became the main institution of achieving compromises for the parties concerned. Against the background of enterprises and regions' specific difficulties, common problems of Siberia's economy started to be seen, which required coordinated action in order to defend Siberia's common interests and influence the development and adoption of national regulations. As a result of the association's work, the "interaction paradigm", which was based on the idea of state regulation, of consensus of socio-economic interests of the center and the subjects of the Russian Federation, of mutual cooperation and strengthening interregional integration of the Siberian Accord members, was formed. The involvement of the government, business and science in the association's activities allowed combining market and regulatory measures that were quite effective, taking into account that no regulatory system, market economy institutions or independent judicial system were in place. The building of interaction among the concerned parties to develop the oil and gas industry became a significant part of establishing federal relations and creating a new regional policy. Dealing with specific problems led to mixed results. The attempts of Siberian Accord to legislatively secure the redistribution of oil revenues in favor of the regions were unsuccessful since the center was willing to make only temporary concessions. However, the association managed to raise the issue of establishing interregional investment funds, to draw the center's attention to the importance of a differentiated tax system and to achieve concrete steps to provide guarantees to investors. Thus, the solving of specific problems of the oil and gas industry allowed not only alleviating the crisis, but also changing the center's "consumer" policy toward the industry, stabilizing the situation and creating conditions for its further development.

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