Assessment of Bachelor’s thesis – Academic Consultant
Study programme:International Economic Relations Field of study:International Trade
Academic year:2021/2022
Bachelor’s thesis Topic:European Union’s energy security with focus on trade in oil and gas with Russia Author’s name:Marina Apostol
Ac. Consultant’s Name:Ing. Ilya Bolotov, MBA, Ph.D.
Opponent:Ing. Monika Smělá
Criterion Mark
(1–4)
1. Overall objective achievement 1
2. Logical structure 1
3. Using of literature, citations 1
4. Adequacy of methods used 2
5. Depth of analysis 1
6. Self-reliance of author 1
7. Formal requirements: text, graphs, tables 1
8. Language and stylistics 2
Comments and Questions:
In her bachelor thesis, the author chose the topic of the EU energy security with special focus on trade in oil and gas with Russia. Despite this being a quite researched topic already, the author managed to introduce new ideas to the discussion, namely different philosophies behind the energy security/policy of a country and relatively comparable case studies on importers of Russian oil and gas. Personally, I find the thesis well-written: it has an ambitious but attainable research question, the author holds on to a single line of (scientific) inquiry in the text, and finishes the thesis with a nice summing up of the conducted research.
The thesis is based on above-average amount of high-quality citations (for a bachelor thesis) and the text is correctly structured. The only problem is a wordy expression style making the thesis quite long which I reflected in the grade referring to ”Language and stylistics”. Overall, I recommend this thesis for defense with the gradeexcellentunder the condition of a similarly good presentation at the defense.
Questions for the defense:
1. What are the main impediments for the implementation of the EU energy union? If successful, how will it affect the trade in oil and gas with Russia?
2. Will, in the opinion of the author, the gas price shock of the late 2021-early 2022 lead to changes in the EU’s energy security?
Conclusion: The Bachelor’s thesis is recommended for the defence.
Suggested Grade: 1
Date: 15/12/2021 Ing. Ilya Bolotov, MBA, Ph.D.
Academic Consultant
