Following a decade of transition in the Former Soviet Union (FSU), governance of the oil and gas sectors has evolved to economic nationalism. In the newly independent states this has manifested itself through greater (direct) state ownership or participation in oil and gas production, at the expense of both domestic (in the case of Russia) and international oil companies, as well as legislative developments that increase the flow of oil and gas value to the state. Here we analyse some of the dynamics giving rise to economic nationalism within a model of a state capacity and the ability to implement policy and extract value. Our analysis is based on the institutional and economic functioning of the oil and gas sector. We analyse a vector of institutions and examine Production Sharing Agreements and National Oil Companies. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.