"This book addresses aspects of international law relating to petroleum contracts, examining oil and gas agreements between states and private companies and their intersection with rules of international law...The book covers topics such as the nature of international petroleum contracts, petroleum agreements as state contracts, issues of contract stability, the development of bilateral investment treaties, natural resource cycles, political risks and the specific petroleum policies of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the International Development Association."--
In response to the primacy of English law as the lingua franca governing petroleum transactions, and the increased global demand for new sources of oil and gas, this fully updated new edition analyses the application of English law to contracts for project investment, financing, and development. The book provides practitioners and other parties with essential operational detail, as well as advising on the implications of English law on the interpretation of relevant provisions. The scope extends, unusually, beyond petroleum contracts made in the UK to cover all petroleum contracts worldwide, delivering exceptionally extensive coverage of this ever-growing sector for an international market. This work is a stand-alone practical guide on the application of English law to petroleum contracts, and provides a detailed and scholarly level of analysis, with reference to all relevant contracts and case law. Beginning with an introduction to the English legal system and the law of general contract, the author goes on to distinguish those characteristics that set petroleum contracts apart from others, including distinction between upstream, midstream, and downstream agreements. The contracts considered include those for the financing, management, sale, purchase and exchange of petroleum assets and interests (collectively called interest contracts), and contracts for the management, sale, purchase and exchange of petroleum quantities and petroleum storage, transportation and capacities (collectively called commodity contracts). Subsequent chapters introduce preliminary petroleum contracts and the obligation to negotiate, conditions precedent and subsequent, joint ventures, and the involvement third parties and the implications for privity in this context. Breaches and doctrines triggered by the impossibility of performance are set out in detail, alongside legal advice on damages, termination, liability allocation and equitable remedies. All relevant provisions are analysed in a final chapter of miscellaneous analysis, ensuring a truly comprehensive treatment of the sector. This new edition has been updated with new chapters on contract architecture and related issues and new sections on the Limitation Act and tolling, further assurances, quantum meruit and estoppel. Chapters have been updated in light of key cases on good faith and relational contracts, fiduciary duties and consequential loss recognitions, amongst others. As English law continues to grow in international importance, this is a key text for practitioners in a number of jurisdictions who are looking to draft contracts or handle international transactions under the umbrella of English law.
This book analyzes the development policies behind the evolution of various arrangements for international petroleum exploitation. By studying examples of the principal categories of petroleum arrangements in four representative developing countries (Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil and China), this study examines in particular the issues of recent trends and new directions in contractual development and environmental sustainability that are reflected in both the structure and substance of the modern petroleum contracts that have emerged since the 1950s. Modern petroleum contracts are generally able to achieve a greater commerciality and mutuality of interests, but they have failed to produce a necessary balance between resources extraction and environmental sustainability. The future direction for petroleum agreements is that they must explicitly recognize the inherent interdependence of commercial viability and sustainable development.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the key aspects and contracts involved in the process of developing oil and gas projects, with an emphasis on offshore developments. Project development in oil and gas carries with it numerous unique risks and challenges. By identifying and managing risk through the various contract stages, each stage of the project is seen in perspective and therefore gives readers a better understanding of how that stage was arrived at and what is expected to come later. To do this, the authors use illustrative international case studies from past and current projects, thereby deepening the reader’s understanding and awareness of risk from practical experience, as well as suggesting answers for those who are involved in developing oil and gas projects. The Application of Contracts in Developing Offshore Oil and Gas Projects is intended for project owners, project managers, contractors, finance managers, commercial managers and lawyers who seek to understand the subject from a practical point of view.
The energy industry is a key source of growth stimulation for developing states. Understandably, developing states are eager to enter into petroleum investment contracts with international investors, with the expectation that this will benefit their countries. The domestic law of some developing states provides a welcoming investment environment in the form of guarantees and stability, while other states provide these opportunities by agreeing to investment contracts or treaties drafted by international organisations established to facilitate such agreements. This book identifies the political risks, particularly of indirect expropriation, that arise from the unilateral actions of host governments during the lifespan of energy investment projects. Focusing on stabilisation clauses as a political risk management tool, this research-based study draws on comparative empirical evidence from Turkey and Azerbaijan to determine what influences host states to consent to the insertion of stabilisation clauses in long-term host government agreements. Proposing a framework for the role to be played by both internal forces and external forces, it examines political regimes and state guarantees to foreign investors in Azerbaijan and Turkey from a comparative perspective, assessing how effective internal factors in Azerbaijan and Turkey are in facilitating contractual stability in their energy investment projects. Providing a comprehensive analysis of stabilisation clauses and the internal and external factors that compel host states to commit to them, this book will appeal to practitioners, students and scholars in international investment law and energy law.
