• Primary Program Oil & Gas
  • Research Interests Carbon-Neutral Trade of Hydrocarbons, LNG, Carbon Markets, Hydrogen, Energy Policy, Energy Transition in Conventional Economies

Biography

Zlata leads “The Future of Hydrocarbons in a Carbon-Managed World” project, aimed at estimating the consequences of international carbon regulation for hydrocarbon markets, with producers starting to offer carbon-neutral LNG and carbon-neutral oil cargos.

Previously, Zlata worked in the Energy Center of the Skolkovo Business School, where she researched natural gas and LNG markets and organized the international Energy Summer School for several hundred participants from all over the world.

Later, she joined the Business Strategy Department in NOVATEK, Russia’s leading independent gas producer, where her main focus was on strategic forecasting and international cooperation in LNG, hydrogen and CCUS.

Since 2020, Zlata has also been a member of the Future Energy Leaders Programme of the World Energy Council.

Publications

See all Zlata’s publications
  • Discussion papers
  • Reports
  • Instant Insights
  • Commentaries
Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Solutions to Decarbonize LNG: Why, Where and How Much?

Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Solutions to Decarbonize LNG: Why, Where and How Much?

In 2019, a new product – carbon-neutral LNG – was born. By 2021, the market for this product had grown rapidly. However, in 2022, the number of announcements about the volumes delivered to customers significantly decreased. To a large extent, this decrease was linked to credibility issues because all supplied cargoes used carbon offsets of various qualities to address emissions. Due to the lack of transparency and proper reporting, as well as global standards for the industry, the practice of trading carbon-neutral LNG has received substantial criticism from the media and stakeholders. However, considering the recent energy crisis and growing need for natural gas in certain regions, decarbonizing LNG is crucial for ensuring energy security in the coming decades.

1st July 2024
Lessons from Gulf Cooperation Council Countries’ Participation in the Clean Development Mechanism

Lessons from Gulf Cooperation Council Countries’ Participation in the Clean Development Mechanism

Carrbon markets have rapidly risen on government and corporate agendas in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as the region gears up to implement the Paris Agreement and pursue ambitious net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets. Governments have expressed interest in participating in international carbon markets in their most recent nationally determined contributions (NDCs), various major companies across the region have set ambitious emission reduction targets, and three GCC countries have begun developing voluntary carbon market standards or marketplaces.

6th June 2023
The Ban on Long-Term Natural Gas Contracts for the European Union: A Double-Edged Sword?

The Ban on Long-Term Natural Gas Contracts for the European Union: A Double-Edged Sword?

Long-term natural gas contracts are necessary market instruments that provide supply security for customers and demand security for producers. Nevertheless, the European Commission recently announced a plan to ban long-term contracts for unabated fossil gas after 2049. This study shows that this plan may destabilize the market due to the lack of supply security for customers and demand security for producers. We find the following main results.

4th April 2023
Political Feasibility of Enhancing the Russian Emissions Reduction Target Under the Paris Agreement

Political Feasibility of Enhancing the Russian Emissions Reduction Target Under the Paris Agreement

It is widely recognized that the commitments set out in the Paris Agreement fall short of achieving the 2 degrees Celsius global warming target, agreed as the central goal of the agreement and its parties. Given this, KAPSARC has set out to explore the political feasibility of enhancing nationally determined contributions by utilizing the KAPSARC Toolkit for Behavioral Analysis (KTAB).

13th November 2019
Gasoline and Diesel Prices in the OECD, China, and India: How Do They Behave During Volatile Times?

Gasoline and Diesel Prices in the OECD, China, and India: How Do They Behave During Volatile Times?

The collapse of crude oil prices in 2020, driven by the effects of COVID-19, the recovery packages implemented in 2021 to overcome the crisis, and the recent geopolitical conflicts in 2022, have marked a distinctive three-year period in the oil market. Furthermore, the public discontent regarding high record prices has spurred collaboration between KAPSARC, the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ), and the Italian Association of Energy Economics (AIEE). Together, they have compiled a dataset aimed at elucidating how the prices of gasoline and diesel evolved during this three-year span and which factors played a more significant role in determining the prices. Presented at a country level on a monthly basis, the data facilitates the identification of structural variations in gasoline and diesel prices across different OECD regions, as well as in China and India.

22nd November 2023
Country Horizon: Russia

Country Horizon: Russia

This report provides an up-to-date overview of Russian domestic and foreign policy issues related to the oil and natural gas markets. We also discuss the potential role of hydrogen in Russia’s short-term energy strategy. We present a succinct overview of the domestic determinants of Russian energy policy and then describe Russia’s ongoing and planned energy infrastructure projects. In doing so, we particularly focus on Russia’s recent efforts to bring its new hydrocarbon resources to global markets. We also discuss recent developments related to Russia’s dialogue with its key energy partners.    

28th February 2022
Assessing CCUS Potential for LNG in the GCC

Assessing CCUS Potential for LNG in the GCC

As the world experiences the energy transition, traditional oil and gas producers are feeling a greater need to decarbonize their hydrocarbon production.

14th August 2024
India’s Ambition to Achieve Net-Zero Emissions by 2070: Uncertainty and Opportunity

India’s Ambition to Achieve Net-Zero Emissions by 2070: Uncertainty and Opportunity

The special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) above pre-industrial levels highlighted the importance of achieving net-zero emissions or a carbon-neutral future. There has subsequently been growing international pressure for net-zero commitments, with major emitting countries such as China and the United States (U.S.) announcing their targets of net-zero by 2060 and net-zero by 2050, respectively. Indeed, even major hydrocarbon producers, such as Saudi Arabia (net-zero by 2060) have joined the growing body of support.

29th December 2021
Azerbaijan: Energy, Carbon, and Opportunities

Azerbaijan: Energy, Carbon, and Opportunities

At the end of 2023, after prolonged discussions, Azerbaijan was selected as the host country of the 2024 United Nations climate summit, COP29. Like the two preceding hosts of COP28 and COP27, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt, Azerbaijan is also a major oil and gas producer.

14th October 2024
Kazakhstan – Saudi Arabia: Crossroads

Kazakhstan – Saudi Arabia: Crossroads

On July 23, 2022, official talks occurred between Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Jeddah. During the meeting, the parties confirmed their intention to intensify mutual trade. At the same time, companies in the two countries signed 13 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in the fields of energy, finance, trade, culture, and sports. In June 2023, another meeting followed between the two countries’ energy ministers, resulting in an agreement to enhance cooperation in the energy sector.

9th January 2024
Household Expenditure Survey, Housing and Energy Costs in Saudi Arabia

Household Expenditure Survey, Housing and Energy Costs in Saudi Arabia

The Household Income and Expenditure Survey for Saudi Arabia was conducted by statistical agency GASTAT in 1999, 2007, 2013 and 2018. In this economic commentary, we discuss some of the key findings and developments over the period under consideration. We devote particular attention to the “housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels” category, which includes fundamentally important goods and services such as electricity, gas, water, and housing rent.

22nd October 2023
Carbon-neutral LNG in Japan: Drivers and Perspectives

Carbon-neutral LNG in Japan: Drivers and Perspectives

In 2019, a new phenomenon – so-called “carbon-neutral liquified natural gas” (LNG) – was introduced into gas markets. It originated from two shipments delivered by Shell in June 2019 to the Japanese utility Tokyo Gas and a Korean energy company, GS Energy. The only difference from common deliveries of LNG was that the emissions of the supplied shipments were compensated with carbon offsets from nature-based projects.

17th August 2023
Floating LNG: A Solution for the European Gas Supply Crisis?

Floating LNG: A Solution for the European Gas Supply Crisis?

The European energy crisis started in the second half of 2021 and was aggravated in 2022 by geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe, explosions on the crucial Nord Stream pipelines that bring a significant portion of Russian gas to Europe and unplanned nuclear outages and low hydro levels. To overcome this crisis, European countries have been adopting different measures. They range from reintroducing coal into power generation to taking measures to decrease energy consumption and searching for alternative energy sources.

17th June 2023
The European Energy Collapse: A Chain of Contingencies or a Recurring Nightmare?

The European Energy Collapse: A Chain of Contingencies or a Recurring Nightmare?

Choosing to rely exclusively on renewable energy sources (RES) and eliminating hydrocarbons can lead to significant difficulties for an energy system. Challenges may arise when energy storage is insufficient to guarantee a stable power supply. The lack of suitable technologies to apply RES in certain sectors, such as maritime and aviation, can also create problems. These challenges were explicitly demonstrated in the United Kingdom and European Union energy markets in September and October 2021.  

20th April 2022

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