The Current Oil and Natural Gas Policy of the EU and the PRC toward the GCC States

The authors explore the doctrinal roots of the European Union’s (EU’s) and People’s Republic of China (PRC’s) policies toward the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) monar-chies in the oil and natural gas fields in the changing security environment. To this end, the authors analyse international treaties and other types of documentation, scientific papers and statistical data. The article describes successes and failures and compares the EU’s and the PRC’s approaches toward the GCC on the bilateral and multilateral levels in the energy sector due to the detailed analysis of cornerstone documentation. This research article provides a thorough overview of the processes of forming the legal framework in the EU and the PRC toward the GCC. It characterizes the evolu-tion of the Middle East policy of the EU and the PRC and reflects on the geopolitical factor in international relations. The authors outline the obstacles in developing inter-national dialogue between the countries, with an accompanying mention of the steps that could not be implemented during cooperation, while being declared within the official agreements. Finally, the attention is drawn to the Russian factor and the influ-ence of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the context of this issue. The authors claim that a free trade area would refresh and deepen relations be-tween the EU and the GCC. It is noted that relations between the PRC and the GCC are developing more intensively with mutual benefit for both parties. The EU and the PRC are interested in signing an FTA with the GCC, and this step will allow them to form strategic partnership mechanisms in the current security situation

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