Editing Soviet Union (section)

=== Energy ===
{{Main|Energy policy of the Soviet Union}}
[[File:1987 CPA 5858.jpg|thumb|A Soviet stamp depicting the 30th anniversary of the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]], published in 1987, a year following the [[Chernobyl nuclear disaster]]]]
The need for fuel declined in the Soviet Union from the 1970s to the 1980s,{{sfn|Wilson|1983|pp=105–108}} both per ruble of gross social product and per ruble of industrial product. At the start, this decline grew very rapidly but gradually slowed down between 1970 and 1975. From 1975 and 1980, it grew even slower,{{Clarify|date=March 2011<!--it grew or the decline grew? !-->}} only 2.6%.{{sfn|Wilson|1983|p=295}} David Wilson, a historian, believed that the gas industry would account for 40% of Soviet fuel production by the end of the century. His theory did not come to fruition because of the USSR's collapse.{{sfn|Wilson|1983|p=297}} The USSR, in theory, would have continued to have an economic growth rate of 2–2.5% during the 1990s because of Soviet energy fields.{{Clarify|date=March 2011}}{{sfn|Wilson|1983|pp=297–299}} However, the energy sector faced many difficulties, among them the country's high military expenditure and hostile relations with the [[First World]].{{sfn|Wilson|1983|p=299}}

In 1991, the Soviet Union had a [[pipeline]] network of {{convert|82000|km|mi}} for [[crude oil]] and another {{convert|206500|km|mi}} for natural gas.<ref name="Central Intelligence Agency-1991" /> Petroleum and petroleum-based products, natural gas, metals, wood, agricultural products, and a variety of manufactured goods, primarily machinery, arms and military equipment, were exported.<ref>{{cite web |title=Soviet Union – Economy |author=Central Intelligence Agency |year=1992 |website=[[The World Factbook]] |url=http://www.theodora.com/wfb1991/soviet_union/soviet_union_economy.html |access-date=23 October 2010 |author-link=Central Intelligence Agency |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005005804/http://www.theodora.com/wfb1991/soviet_union/soviet_union_economy.html |archive-date=5 October 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 1970s and 1980s, the USSR heavily relied on fossil fuel exports to earn [[hard currency]].<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies-2" /> At its peak in 1988, it was the largest producer and second-largest exporter of crude oil, surpassed only by [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hardt |first1=John Pearce |title=Russia's Uncertain Economic Future: With a Comprehensive Subject Index |page=233 |publisher=[[M.E. Sharpe]] |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvKF3PKGYAcC |isbn=978-0-7656-1208-3 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512044209/http://books.google.com/books?id=IvKF3PKGYAcC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>