The framing of unconventional natural gas resources in the foreign energy policy discourse of the Russian Federation

The advent of unconventional resources of natural gas has altered the order on global as well as continental gas markets. With rising liquidity, the position of established dominant suppliers is eroding. We focus on the initial response of Russia, the leading supplier of natural gas to Europe, to the new situation, building the research on unit-level constructivism and discourse analysis. We use frame analysis to reveal what image of unconventional resources was constructed in Russian foreign energy policy discourse (FEPD) in the period between 2009 and 2011, when the “unconventional revolution” did not yet have any sharp contours. We conclude that in Russian FEPD the unconventionals are considered as a distinctive and inferior source of energy compared to conventional natural gas. Emphasis is put on their economic irrationality and environmental hazards. The bottom line of the discourse is the idea that there is a choice between conventional and unconventional sources, with this choice being framed as one between good and bad, or right and wrong.