Until recently, the country - which is a minor oil producer - was unable to export oil from its existing fields in the north and east of the country because of a Western embargo.

BBC: Tamar natural gas platform, 2013

The export of oil from government-owned fields--not including, that is, "windfall" taxes--accounted in 2006 for 45% of government income.

FORBES: Magazine Article

But these companies lack the best incentive to raise their production, or develop new fields in inaccessible places: the right to export gas beyond the former Soviet Union (which is a Gazprom monopoly).

ECONOMIST: Russian gas and Europe