ALBERT

Description: Energy security remains a vital issue for the European Union (EU), even more so in the wake of the events that unfolded in early 2014 in Ukraine. The EU’s already fragile position in the international energy arena in terms of security of supply appears to be more uncertain than ever after its umpteenth fallout with its historic energy supplier, Russia. This situation is untenable and calls for swift and decisive action to adequately tackle the issue once and for all. The article looks at the creation of a single EU energy market through integration of energy networks in the EU. It then examines various ways to diversify the EU’s energy supply, whether through increasing the import of liquefied natural gas, through its relations with the Eurasian Union, the promotion of renewable energy or the construction of alternative pipelines and energy routes. The article then offers an analysis of the latest developments of the Energy Charter Conference. The article concludes that from energy transit, to technology transfer, to investment protection, energy and trade present interplays across various fields. Improvements can be made to the EU trading system to ensure greater energy security and more efficient energy markets.

Description: Despite the Egyptian authorities’ great hopes for the fledging shale gas industry in Egypt, it appears that it could be difficult for Egypt to realize these lofty ambitions, at least in the near future. The Egyptian shale gas industry faces technical challenges as well as a critical lack of detailed regulations regarding the exploration for and the production of shale gas. There is also a lack of guidance over the manner in which foreign investments can be made in the industry.

Description: The demand for thermal coal has risen dramatically over the past 20 years, driven by an emerging markets-led commodities super cycle, which has recently come to an end. Today, thermal coal generates over 40 per cent of global electricity and is available in large quantities in countries such as China, India and the USA. Thermal coal is also the primary contributor to CO 2 emissions, a substantial driver of climate change. This has resulted in material tension for ‘sustainable and responsible’ institutional investors and strategic challenges for certain state-owned companies. Deciding upon the electricity generation technology in which to invest poses a significant dilemma. Thermal coal is abundant and by far the cheapest when externalities are not internalized. Electric renewables currently suffer from intermittency, viable storage solutions and are not very scalable. While cleaner than thermal coal, natural gas is abundant yet often needs to be imported and is more expensive than thermal coal. Although safe, scalable and clean from an emissions perspective, ‘new’ nuclear energy suffers from perception problems. The mixed method inductive methodology was used to determine the extent to which thermal coal remains investable over the next 20 years and has led to two divergent yet plausible scenarios impacting thermal coal investability. In assessing the investability of thermal coal across four chief stakeholders and geographies, a multifaceted interpretation of the term ‘investability’ is developed, which recognizes disparate financial and non-financial investment drivers. The research shows that thermal coal remains investable by a variety of stakeholders, particularly in the Transformative scenario, but their reasons for investing differ materially both by geography and the type of stakeholder. Finally, the key drivers for both scenarios are identified that can be monitored and used as an early warning system to inform investment decisions.

Description: In March of 2015 New Zealand’s Court of Appeal brought to a conclusion a long running dispute between the joint venture partners in the Pohokura gas and condensate field located in Taranaki, New Zealand. Todd Pohokura v. Shell Exploration NZ Limited et ano deals with the rights to production and offtake arising under the Association of International Petroleum Negotiator’s (AIPN) 1995 Model Form joint operating agreement (JOA), the powers of the Operating Committee in regards thereto and the practical implications of entering into a field development without documenting all the necessary gas sale and transportation arrangements in advance. The factual matrix provides an opportunity to review the principles of common law relevant to production and offtake, including the development of those principles from early English common law into U.S. domestic law, and how those principles have been reflected in model form JOAs on both sides of the Atlantic, including the AIPN forms and ultimately the Pohokura JOA. The analysis confirms the New Zealand courts’ rulings upholding the power of the Operating Committee to determine production rates under the AIPN Model form. However, it concludes that gas offtake arrangements that amend or add to the rights and obligations of the parties under the JOA must be agreed unanimously and are not within the jurisdiction of the Operating Committee to determine.

Description: Pursuant to a generous Association of International Petroleum Negotiator (AIPN) 2014 Summer Research Award, this article identifies, evaluates and compares the legal and fiscal rules, regulations and incentives necessary for countries with significant shale petroleum and natural gas formations to attempt to replicate the boom that is ongoing in the USA. As others have pointed out, 1 several legal, tax, and operational barriers can impair duplication of the US shale revolution in similarly endowed nations. This article identifies key factors responsible for the surge in US shale production, distill the fundamental forces from the US experience that are applicable to any jurisdiction, and evaluate and compare how several countries fare in this vein. The report also identifies avenues for reform and innovative policies that could be applied in other jurisdictions.

Description: Texas law has only recently codified in precedential decisions a reasonable formula for production allocations for horizontal, including fracked, wells. The ancient regime of the Rule of Capture does not generally apply, because of the nature of the geologic deposits and the new technology. This reasonable formula is applicable in the international arena for cross-border deposits and production blocks. Other national law and international treaties provide scant guidance in these matters and governments, national oil companies and international oil companies should review this formula to aid in negotiations for fair and equitable allocations that should preclude unnecessary disputes and litigation.

Description: Oil and gas fields that straddle a domestic licence boundary or a delimited international border are often unitized so that they can be developed efficiently and effectively as a single entity. The unitization process is usually governed by a pre-unit agreement and a unitization and unit operating agreement. Provision for expert determination in these agreements should include a decision on the basis for tract participation, the determination of initial tract participation around the time of unitization, the formulation of key elements of prescribed technical procedures for any redetermination of tract participation, the redetermination of tract participation post-production, and the enlargement or reduction of the unit area and/or unit interval. The agreements must also define the key issues of how an appointed expert is to arrive at a decision. Expert determination is generally preferred to pendulum decision-making, an expert should carry out an integrated study with a single deliverable as opposed to one that is subdivided into discrete incremental steps, and the expert should table an initial decision for technical and procedural scrutiny by the parties before delivering a final binding decision. Experience has shown that adherence to these principles of prescription facilitates expert engagement during subsequent field life and thereby promotes Pareto-efficiency, fairness and equitability.

Description: Renewable energy provides an answer to the most pressing socio-economic challenges governments face today, in particular the effects of climate change. Although efforts have been made throughout the world, it is necessary that investment in renewable energy is further increased if it is to have a marked impact on the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). The lack of national investment is inevitably going to trigger the inflow of foreign investment which may be subject to performance requirements which are regulated by a number of economic treaties. The Article reviews all the norms currently applicable and stresses their differences to provide a typology of existing prohibition. The analysis is further refined by a comprehensive review of the case law (both decided by trade and investment tribunals) to identify the type of requirements which have been implemented on renewable energies. It also explains and anticipates the role of the most favoured national treatment in the context of bilateral treaties in a manner hitherto unexplored. In doing so, this Article provides a comprehensive analysis of the performance requirements in international treaties with a view to assessing their impact on the further development of renewable energies.

Description: This brief contains an update of the current situation of upstream petroleum investment in Thailand. It is a critical appraisal of the ongoing reformation of the new Petroleum Act, which intends to adopt all three types of upstream contract, namely, concession, production sharing and service contracts, to govern the contractual relationship between Thailand and upstream investors.

Description: Local-content legislation and policies in oil and gas producing countries have become a key priority of host governments and industry players alike. Increasingly, more resource-rich developing countries are enacting local-content legislation as a means of maximizing the benefits to be gained from their petroleum industries. However, these laws and policies are being implemented with insufficient research into their efficacy, and as a result have often yielded mixed results. This article assesses the effect of local-content legislation and policies in the oil and gas industry presenting insights on the challenges faced by industry players with regard to their implementation. We trace the channels through which local-content legislation advances value creation by evaluating different implementation programmes, using clearly stated local-content targets to measure their efficacy. Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil and Norway are chosen as case study countries to highlight the diversity of local-content strategies for countries at different developmental stages. The motivation for this research is to provide host governments, investors and domestic suppliers with guidelines on how to successfully develop and implement local-content regulations and strategies. The experience of the case study countries above show that the success or otherwise of local-content legislation and policies remains a function of a country’s institutional setting and developmental paradigm. Based on the review of the case studies, we summarize that successful local-content legislation and policies should be anchored on the following principles: (i) local-content policies need to look beyond simple generation of economic rents to focus on the development of linkages; (ii) the tools developed to measure agreed local-content benchmarks must be clearly defined to the acceptance of all industry players; and (iii) entrenching local content depends on the availability of an industrial-supply base that can act as growth levers.

Description: This article demonstrates how the oil regulatory framework enacted in Brazil in 2010 will have detrimental effects on technology and innovation. The shortcomings essentially derive from three of its aspects: (i) operational exclusivity; (ii) the governance structure of the operational committee; and (iii) local content policies which lack adequate focus and strategic planning. All these elements actually stem from an excessively intrusive regulatory approach, within a typical top-down model, disproportionately reliant on command and control procedures. The current regulations will lead to significant drawbacks in technology and innovation in Brazil that will inevitably affect Petrobras. Even worse, however, they will not guarantee the development of a dynamic and sustainable industry of suppliers. Instead of using Petrobras to propel its industry of providers towards higher technological standards, suppliers will be dragging the national oil company downwards at the expense of the whole sector. A less intrusive regulatory framework, based on reflexive and responsive regulations is more suitable in this context, since it induces agents to continuously interact in a favourable way for the intended outcomes, instead of imposing norms and rules on them that most probably lead to other undesirable consequences.

Description: Sellers and buyers of political risk insurance (PRI) ask a simple question about a claimed indirect expropriation: ‘Is it covered by the PRI policy?’ The answer is far from simple. This article investigates only one PRI coverage—compensation for indirect expropriatory conduct. Numerous definitional issues and uncertainties exist. Investors in energy projects and PRI insurance providers will therefore both benefit from direct and clear discussions about the scope of indirect expropriation cover under a PRI policy before the policy is purchased.

Description: A number of recent governmental actions have impacted energy companies' abilities to perform under contracts relating to the extraction and export of natural resources in countries such as Russia, Iraq, and Libya. What steps can a company take to protect itself when relations between oil-rich countries and the West deteriorate? Should a company continue performing under its contract at the risk of violating economic sanctions or should it refrain from performing and risk contractual liability? While tempting to assume that the relevant contract's force majeure provision will provide sufficient protection, force majeure is not a magic talisman that can always be invoked to avoid contractual obligations that have become too difficult to perform. This article analyzes relevant case law and model clauses published by the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators and the International Chamber of Commerce to provide practical guidance on force majeure situations resulting from government action and civil unrest.

Description: When the Master Deed was conceived one of its core objectives was to expedite and simplify the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) asset transfer regime. Although the Master Deed has had some successes since its introduction in 2003, its effectiveness in reducing the time and cost of asset transfers in the UKCS has been hindered by an inconsistent application of legal principles and the overtly adversarial legal and commercial culture that prevails in the UKCS. The UKCS’s viability to continue as a profitable producing basin is currently under threat as margins are squeezed by high producing costs and low commodity prices. During such times of increased financial pressure, it is imperative that regulators react to these challenges by developing and nurturing a regulatory environment that reduces administrative obstacles associated with asset transfers encouraging greater liquidity and investment. This article argues that with the support of a proactive and collaborative regulator, which safeguards the consistent application of transfer provisions, discards outdated methodologies and fosters a more collaborative culture between UKCS participants, the UKCS transfer regime has the potential to be one of the most dynamic and user friendly regimes of its kind. Maximizing the effectiveness of the transfer regime will ensure that the UKCS remains a competitive environment to carry out oil and gas operations, elongating its producing life and increasing overall hydrocarbon recovery.

Description: Russia is posing a series of challenges to gas consumers and gas producers alike. But the effectiveness of these challenges remains a matter of considerable debate. Overall, prospective Russian actions and policies have profound implications for the development of the European gas market in general, and thus for potential US LNG exports to Europe. Moreover, underlying all this is the most worrisome question of all: do Russia’s policies and actions enable gas consumers—and indeed, some Central Asian gas producers—to regard Russia as a reliable energy partner? This article therefore addresses: Prospects for the full implementation of the Russia–China gas accords; Prospects for Turkmen gas supply to both Russia and China; Prospects for the development of both Gazprom’s Turkish Stream project and the EU-backed Southern Gas Corridor; Prospects for US LNG in Europe; The potential challenge that a change in Russian gas export policies could pose to European gas prices. The article also seeks to answer the question as to whether Russia can be considered a reliable partner, particularly in connection with long-term deliveries to Europe.

Description: Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia is the most basic rule that serves as the main source for every policy concerning natural resources in Indonesia. It is interesting that ever since the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, there is no official or formal interpretation with regard to that provision. This article will discuss the Indonesian Constitutional Court’s interpretation of Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia. Furthermore, it will discuss overlapping rules and policies, and how derivative rules are in contradiction with Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia. An understanding of this provision is crucial in order to understand the general principles of gas governance in Indonesia.

Description: The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Standard adopted in May 2013 broke new ground by including revenues from the sale of natural resources among the revenue streams to be reported by governments. This addition is of great significance considering the economic importance of sales revenues, in particular in the case of crude oil, and the rather opaque environment in which the sale and purchase of natural resources often takes place. Transparency of sales revenues, as for fiscal revenues from upstream activities, helps empower citizens of resource-rich countries to hold their governments accountable for the wealth generated by those resources. The author argues in favour of a global adoption of the EITI regime and its further strengthening in the area of disclosure of payments by companies purchasing natural resources, including commodity traders. The experience of Iraq with EITI reporting shows how information from the government as well as companies regarding the sale of the state’s crude oil can be made available to the public. National, top-down initiatives, such as the disclosure rules in section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act (not implemented at the time of writing), only compel companies under national jurisdiction to disclose payments to foreign governments. Unilateral initiatives create a patchwork of inconsistent standards, inviting regulatory arbitrage. As an example, while the disclosure requirements developed in the USA also apply to payments by listed companies purchasing natural resources for exporting (oil companies, refineries, commodity traders, etc); the scope of the legislation introduced in the European Union is limited to payments for upstream activities by companies in the extractive (and forestry) industries. The resulting unbalanced playing field, in addition to compliance costs, is an issue of concern to businesses, in particular with regard to the disclosure of commercially sensitive information. These considerations inform the ongoing debate regarding the possible adoption of transparency requirements in Switzerland, a major trading hub for physical energy commodities.

Description: Investment in upstream oil and gas operations is of great importance for the exploration and development of oil and gas fields. There are diverse and varied laws and regulations regarding investment in upstream oil and gas operations. This article intends to investigate and evaluate these various laws, as well as to provide an answer to the question as to what extent these rules are able to provide a secure legal framework for foreign investment in upstream oil activities. In this article we first prove that from a legal point of view foreign investment in oil and gas upstream activities has not been very explicitly permitted. Secondly, the basic terms and conditions of upstream oil and gas contracts, through which investments can be materialized in the oil and gas sector, have not yet been touched by regulations. And thirdly, it is still unclear which body is responsible for defining these essential terms and conditions: whether it is the Council of Ministers, the Economic Council or there is no legal body at all to legalize these terms and conditions and they are left to the Ministry of Petroleum and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) itself to set these terms and conditions within the broad framework of the legislation.

Description: It is often believed that investment arbitrations are filed because some form of political risk materialized, harming the investor’s interests. This is the hypothesis that the authors examine in this article, focusing on the oil and gas sector. They analyse which types of political risk, present in the host state, eventually lead oil and gas investors to file investment arbitration claims against that state. They find statistical evidence supporting the idea that bad governance and economic nationalism are indeed conducive to arbitration claims in the oil and gas sector. However, it appears that economic hardship does not have the same triggering effect.

Description: After becoming independent in 1991 Azerbaijan has signed more than 30 production sharing agreements (PSAs) with international oil companies (IOCs), attracting more than $55 billion foreign investments for the joint development and production of major oil and gas fields and with significant impact for the country and the Caucasus region at large. The focus of this article is on the PSA as the legal agreement which regulates the legal, commercial and fiscal relationship between the government of Azerbaijan and IOCs. The article is a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the existing major PSAs from its legal, commercial, fiscal and environmental perspectives. The article identifies the key legal and contractual issues in the PSA regime and proposes ways to restructure the current regime in order to meet the challenges facing the petroleum industry of Azerbaijan in the future.

Description: Mexican energy reforms open the energy sector to foreign participation via different types of contracts, some of which may qualify as investments under North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Chapter 11. Mexican NAFTA reservations exclude some Mexican regulation from the scope of application of specific obligations in Chapter 11, such as those regarding performance requirements, most-favoured-nation treatment, and national treatment. However, Mexico’s legislative restrictions on foreign investors’ right to pursue investor–state arbitration are not covered by its NAFTA reservations and should not affect access to NAFTA Chapter 11 dispute settlement. Those restrictions are inconsistent with NAFTA Chapter 11 and Mexico cannot invoke its domestic laws to justify a violation of its international obligations. Moreover, Mexico’s reservations do not prevent the application of obligations regarding fair and equitable treatment and expropriation.

Description: Most states of the Gulf of Guinea have discovered significant offshore petroleum resources. The discoveries come at time when petro-states of the Gulf of Guinea do not have adequate regulation or capacity to manage the environmental consequences of offshore petroleum development, and at a time that the international community is yet to agree on any global offshore petroleum regulatory framework. The article, therefore, suggests that it is in the interest of petro-states of the Gulf of Guinea to protect the Gulf of Guinea by negotiating a protocol under the Abidjan Convention to regulate offshore petroleum development despite international disagreement as to the need for global offshore petroleum regulation.

Description: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was established in 1960, and Indonesia became the seventh country to join in 1962. However, Indonesia suspended her membership for seven years from January 2009, and has just rejoined in January of this year. During her initial 27-year tenure, Indonesia’s representatives held the position of Secretary General four times, for a total of 10 years. This article will give a brief historical overview of OPEC, as well as that of Indonesia’s oil and gas sector and her relationship with OPEC.

Description: The European Union (EU) has a recognized international legal personality and it has signed the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) as a Regional Economic Integration Organization (REIO). As a result, the ECT, the EU and national legislation together establish different regulatory layers governing energy markets. Although those layers are in principle complementary, rules adopted in different periods and frameworks may cause inconsistencies in their implementation. The arbitral tribunal award on 21 January 2016 in the case Charanne and Construction v Spain , is only the latest illustration of the uneasy boundaries between the EU and ECT. This article will look into some of the dynamics and tensions between the EU internal energy market and policy and the ECT in the areas of transit, long-term contracts, renewable energy and external relations. The review of selected measures and case law will reveal the existence of tensions at regional and international levels and the way they are addressed to simultaneously accommodate regional and international legal orders. This article will help to understand what kind of interactions are happening today between the EU and the ECT legal systems and will offer a particular view to explain and approach those relations.

Description: To date there have been limited attempts by energy law scholars to ensure that their research impacts upon legal practice and in particular upon the decision-making of judges. One of the aims of this article is to address this issue and call for the need of energy law scholars to re-engage with what their sub-discipline of law is and also to provide new scholarship that can bridge the gap between academics and professionals in energy law. This article aims to begin a wider movement across the energy law field of scholars with the aim of initiating and advancing the aim and direction of energy law. A central aim of this article is to begin a debate on whether a paradigm shift is needed in energy law. As part of this new initiative, three theoretical frameworks are advanced and these are as follows: (i) The Energy Law and Policy Triangle; (ii) The Theory of Change in Energy Law; and (iii) The Power of Energy Law: Targeted Legislation. These theories outlined in this article aim to highlight some of what scholars and practitioners should focus on, and present them with thinking-tools or theories of how to do so. In order to finalize the emergence of energy law as its own sub-discipline of law it needs its own theory to evolve and grow as other sub-disciplines of law do both in theory and in practice.

Description: This article reviews the law applicable to boundary determinations and observes that this legal framework does not provide sufficient guidance for parties involved in development of subsoil or subsea resources that may straddle an undefined or contested boundary. Examples of how states and private parties have attempted to cope with this uncertainty are discussed. The authors propose that a duty of good faith applies to prevent the existence of legal uncertainty in such situations from being exploited to prohibit resource exploration. They finally discuss briefly how some parties seek to address these risks contractually.

Description: At their core, natural gas and LNG price review claims focus on evaluating whether or not the applicable contract sales price aligns with the various benchmarks specified in the underlying contract. While price review clauses are drafted in different ways, the common premise is a simple one. Its application, however, is mired in nuance and potential pitfalls. In this article, we consider the commercial bargain underlying price review rights with an eye to understanding the context within which the text of any price review clause should be considered. We examine some of the key issues to be considered in evaluating the market benchmarks referenced in these clauses and some of the complexities associated with quantifying market value by reference to these benchmarks. Ultimately, many factors must be considered and reconciled in the context of a price review claim. For the lawyers involved in these cases, it is critical to understand both aspects separately and in tandem to arrive at a coherent and comprehensive analytical framework.

Description: Energy contracts have long been vexed by questions about the role of gap filling by arbitrators and judges, along with the effect of changed circumstance on the parties’ obligations. Each challenge continues to resist facile analysis as differing legal standards interact with subtleties of contract language and factual matrixes. In the face of these challenges, arbitrators must seek a delicate equilibrium between legitimate respect for bargains and an equally legitimate recognition of expectations that genuine gaps be filled and dramatically changed circumstances receive appropriate consideration. In aiming for counterpoise, common sense normally pays greater dividends than ideology or dogmatism.

Description: The importance of substantial and sustained investment in the energy sector cannot be overstated. The protections offered to private investors through the global network of bilateral investment treaties (BITs), including investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) are particularly significant for the energy sector. However, the ISDS system that has been so significant in encouraging investment is under attack. An intense and public debate is on foot. This article highlights the ways in which the investment treaty system and ISDS are developing to achieve an appropriate balance between private rights and public interests, particularly given recent developments in sustainable development, responding to climate change, and the promotion and protection of human rights. The article surveys reactive developments in substantive standards of protection under BITs, as well as the ways in which the existing system is capable of self-calibration to respond to public concerns, namely in respect of transparency, state counterclaims, legislative discretion, and the emergence of a new generation of BITs addressing the public/private divide. Finally, the authors consider how arbitration, including ISDS, has contributed to an equally important public interest, the growth of the rule of law around the world. The authors conclude that while a range of improvements to the investment treaty system can and should be considered, the system as a whole and ISDS are vital components of the energy industry, integral to our future energy security and key contributors to global stability through their promotion of the rule of law.

Description: From the 1920s to the 1960s, seven major International Oil Companies (IOCs) were almost the only market players in the global petroleum industry. Their share of oil and gas reserves, however, fell dramatically from about 85 per cent in 1970 to less than 10 per cent today. Changes in the competitive dynamics of the upstream petroleum industry are, however, less studied areas in the literature. In this article, we conduct a review of previous studies to answer the question: Is the traditional business model of IOCs still valid? We propose a theoretical framework and give a historical account of IOCs erosion and Global National Oil Companies (GNOCs) ascent to the top. Finally, we explore an array of possible future scenarios. We argue that IOCs are not in a position to regain the lost ground if they remain wedded to their traditional business model.

Description: The Russia–China deal in May 2014 opened a new page in Gazprom's efforts to orient its exports to Asia. The political logic behind the new agreement resembles the first Soviet gas export contracts with European states. However, the international gas markets favour Asia's position in general and China's in particular. Moreover, China is now having a leverage on its future liquefied natural gas suppliers. The new context makes Russian negotiating positions weaker and, moreover, Russian gas export to China might not be a subject of Gazprom monopoly any longer.

Description: Bangladesh has recently decided to build the country’s first nuclear power plant in the western region of Rooppur, despite strong public opinion against it. The Bangladeshi government argues that the project is necessary to diversify the country’s energy mix to improve electricity generation capacity. This commentary explores the Rooppur nuclear power plant project and argues that there are serious concerns about the project that should be taken into account by the Bangladeshi government and that there are other options available to diversify the energy mix. The author recommends that Bangladesh is not yet ready for nuclear power as sufficient technical and regulatory expertise and improvement of infrastructure is required before the country can go nuclear.

Description: The energy industry has been Mexico's main economic engine since the early 20th century. Booming oilfields across the Gulf of Mexico have financed government expenditures, social programmes and infrastructure for almost 80 years. Nevertheless, Mexico's once abundant reserves have been dwindling at an accelerated rate under the energy monopoly model controlled by the state. As exploration, production, processing and distribution became increasingly complex and demanded higher levels of specialization, the Mexican energy industry started to lag and fall behind due to the State's monopoly inability to efficiently reallocate and invest the necessary resources to maintain a sustainable growth. Consequently, the once almighty Mexican oil production peaked in 2004. In 2013, the Mexican government was finally able to enact the necessary constitutional and legal changes to transform the energy industry from a monopoly into a free market model where private companies, domestic and international, could invest and participate in Mexico's energy renaissance. This article will discuss the new model, focusing on upstream ventures, brought about by the Energy Reform, including the main regulatory agencies, laws, and contract schemes that are expected to attract new investors and technologies, ultimately reinvigorating Mexico's energy industry.

Description: The United Nations Secretary-General, in the 67th annual report, Oceans and the Law of the Sea , gave a preliminary statement regarding the governance policy and legal framework for marine renewable resources. The report also suggested establishing a relevant legal regime but did not provide any details. Legislative and research work have positive effects in facilitating marine renewable energy programmes. It is also a necessary precondition to create a relevant legal governance regime, in order to establish a concrete marine renewable energy programme. This article examines international legal duties and obligations in relation to the exploration of marine renewable energy. It also examines state practice in the USA, the UK and Canada.

Description: Central Asia is strategically located at the crossroads of many natural gas production and consumption regions. Historically isolated because of lack of infrastructure and Soviet control, multiple projects are being proposed to transport gas from the rich reserves found in the Caspian Basin both eastward and westward. Littoral nations on the shore of the Caspian Sea are in a time of significant energy growth as the European Union has sought to eliminate reliance on Russian gas supply. The Trans-Caspian Pipeline (TCP) is one of these proposed projects. It would transport gas from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan through the seabed of the Caspian Sea from which it could be transported on to Europe, eliminating Russia from the transport process. In this article, we will look at the background of the pipeline’s proposal, setbacks arising, and how the construction would affect each of the five littoral nations.

Description: This article analyses how the progressive globalization of the natural gas market has shaped Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) arbitration disputes over the past two decades. It concludes that globalization has had differing impacts on two categories of LNG arbitration disputes.

Description: New hydrocarbon frontiers open for various reasons, including technological advances and beneficial economic conditions. In this article, the authors focus on countries opening for business because of political changes and how foreign entrants can best manage investment risk in these countries. Investing in frontier markets may be challenging for a number of reasons, however, the prize for overcoming these challenges can be significant. In the current low oil price environment, risk tolerant investors may see a perfect buying opportunity in promising frontiers. The authors provide an overview of ten key issues (such as political risk and local law risk) that, regardless of the oil price, investors should consider before bidding for oil and gas assets in frontier markets and advise on effective mitigation strategies.

Description: This article examines the potential for shale gas production in Mexico following the recent constitutional reforms. Since the secondary legislation to the Mexican Energy Reform Law was passed, opening the country’s electricity and hydrocarbon sectors to private participation for the first time in over 75 years, participants in the energy industry have turned their attention to Mexico. Thus far in the bidding process for government contracts, Mexico’s deepwater, shallow-water and heavy oil resources have generated the greatest interest from private entities. The returns from these contracts, however, may literally pave the way for large-scale shale gas production in Mexico by providing the private capital necessary for the expansion of gas pipeline infrastructure. This report will address a brief history and the development of Mexican policies and interests, modern Mexican energy policy, shale gas opportunities in Mexico, growing gas demand in Mexico and abroad and obstacles to industry development. This information will be used to analyse the real potential for shale gas production in Mexico and its implications for the country’s future.

Description: On 25 February 2015, the European Commission published a Communication on its vision of an Energy Union as, amongst other things ‘an integrated continent wide energy system where energy flows freely across borders based on competition and the best possible use of resources and with effective regulation of energy markets at EU level where necessary’. The Communication listed the actions necessary to deliver this Energy Union in a list which was as interesting for what was not included as for what was. While full implementation and enforcement of existing energy and related law (and particularly the third energy package) was listed as the first priority of the Union, there was no mention of the need for further market unbundling or a fourth energy package. This position is worrying. Through an inadequate implementation of poorly designed market structures, the EU has created national markets which are hotbeds for consumer-damaging market manipulation and abuse. Consequently, there is a pressing need for further market unbundling and a fourth energy package. Not only will such measures be essential to the successful creation of an Energy Union and the realization of the benefits expected from market liberalization, they are urgently needed to remove existing market structures, which are facilitating consumer-damaging anticompetitive behaviours by making such behaviours virtually impossible to detect and punish.

Description: LNG in Canada stands at an important inflection point. On the one hand, the next few years could witness affirmative final investment decisions by a strong number of the proponents of Canadian LNG projects and Canada could become an important player on the global LNG stage. On the other hand, regulatory and cost uncertainty, coupled with unfavourable market conditions and economics, could combine to put a chill on Canada’s nascent LNG industry, stunting all or most projects. Given the significance of this crossroads, this article examines the history and modern characteristics of the LNG industry to illuminate the context in which Canadian LNG final investment decisions, whether positive or negative, are being made. In particular, this article examines the different project structures or ‘economic models’ LNG projects may adopt, as well how these models can impact the value chain and myriad of related contractual arrangements that coalesce to transport natural gas from upstream reservoirs across oceans to downstream consumers. Attention also shifts regularly to the specifics of the Canadian stage in the hope of drawing insightful comparisons and contrasts between the budding Canadian LNG industry and its international counterparts. For those interested in learning more about the Canadian LNG industry or the international LNG industry in general, this article serves as a comprehensive, albeit high-level, introduction from a Canadian perspective. For those with LNG experience in other jurisdictions, this article serves as a refresher complimented with considerations endemic to Canada’s LNG industry. What will hopefully also be apparent to both groups of readers is that proponents of Canadian LNG projects are navigating diverse sets of circumstances the responses to which are often proving as instructive as they are interesting.

Description: While a case-by-case method for the determination of indirect expropriation is a practical method and is somehow the governing method given the inconsistency in arbitral practice, it is argued whether an attempt to set out a clear, consistent and appropriate method must be encouraged by tribunals. Jan Paulsson (and before him G C Christie) correctly emphasize that there is no ‘magical formula’ or "particular analysis" that can be applied at all times or in all circumstances, but a question arises as to whether there must be a general basis or common method that sets out the minimal requirements of indirect expropriation. Putting to one-side cases which deal with non-discriminatory regulation for public welfare objectives, a number of questions have become critical to the finding of indirect expropriation in light of the recent case law.

Description: Arbitration is the most widely used dispute resolution method in the energy sector. A major advantage of arbitration is that it allows parties to select the persons who will settle the dispute—the arbitrators. However, finding meaningful information on the level of expertise of potential arbitrators is not easy. There are serious information asymmetries that prevent the market for arbitrator services from being fully competitive and impair parties’ ability to make wholly informed decisions. Because most parties and their counsels are not familiar with the market for arbitrators, they tend to rely on personal enquiries and generic or specific directories of arbitrators. The choice of a suitable arbitrator is critical, not merely from the parties’ point of view but also to ensure the efficiency and legitimacy of the overall system of dispute resolution. Arbitrators should be able to balance a variety of diverse interests that frequently go beyond the strict concerns of the disputing parties. This article argues that lists of energy arbitrators should be improved so as to allow interested parties to consult prior awards rendered by potential arbitrators and the feedback provided by previous users of their services. This would allow parties to conduct a more efficient screening of potential candidates, hopefully contributing to make the process of identification of expert energy arbitrators easier and cheaper.

Description: The Energy Charter Treaty is an important multilateral treaty for promoting international energy cooperation. Sustainable development is one of its purposes. The investment regulations of the Treaty have emphasized protecting the investors’ interests, which has potentially both positive and negative influence on sustainable development. To achieve the aim of sustainable development and to attract more countries’ participation in the Treaty, the Treaty should increase its transparency and give differential treatment to developing countries. This article seeks to analyse these concerns and offer some wider conclusions regarding the particular improvement which can be carried out to increase the level of investment protection, while maximizing sustainable development simultaneously.

Description: As global climate change and its adverse effects have caused serious consequences, the Chinese Government is speeding up on energy saving and emissions reductions, becoming much more active on the climate and environment front. According to the work schedule of the Ministry of Finance, construction of the environmental protection tax system is one essential part of the forthcoming green tax reform in China. On 10 June 2015, the Cabinet’s Legislative Affairs Office issued a Draft Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Draft EPT Law’) to solicit opinions and comments. This action received much attention and prompted discussion both at home and abroad. The Draft EPT Law shows the trend of transforming pollution charges into tax, and starts a green reform in administrative management by means of financial tools. Though the law does not include carbon dioxide with taxable pollutants, it leaves space for future carbon taxation. With the increase of green reform in the future, carbon tax will no doubt be put on the priority list of the Chinese Government, at which point the Government will face three major challenges. First, the current unsatisfactory tax system environment will jeopardize carbon tax. It is necessary to repeal the overlaps between the Draft EPT Law and carbon tax, other energy taxes and non-environmental taxes, and introduce carbon tax into the current tax system without throwing off the order of the overall tax structure. Secondly, in spite of the design of the new tax structure, the administrative organization of tax management remains a very critical problem. It will be necessary to establish an orderly interactive relationship horizontally between the environmental agency and tax agency, and vertically between the central and the local authorities. Thirdly, a new carbon tax will cause economic slowdown in the short term. In addition to offering tax rebates, reductions and subsidies, a system of penalties could offset negative effects and optimize positive outcomes of emission reduction.

Description: At present, the issue of bilateral investment treaties (BIT) is gaining more and more importance worldwide, because of various projects requiring effective financial flow, being globally initiated. This article tries to analyse the particularities of the BITs between China and Canada (China–Canada BIT), as well as between the European Union (EU) and Canada (investment chapter of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA) to locate and emphasize some of the basic features applicable for a future investment protection oriented agreement involving China and the EU. Furthermore, the scope of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development (IPFSD) broadens the view on International Investment Agreements in general, helping the assessment of their provisions from a sustainability aspect. The article also covers some of the areas of dispute settlement, its main goal being to make complex suggestions to the constantly forming international investment policy of China, potentially contributing to the pressurization of sustainable development.

Description: The Leviathan natural gas field has become a significant energy source for surrounding states in the eastern Mediterranean such as Lebanon, Cyprus, Syria, Israel, Jordan and Turkey. Tensions in the particular area cause this resource to be exploited on a low efficiency level both when it comes to utilization and organized cooperation between states helping their economies to benefit from the trade in this natural resource. This article analyses the current tendencies towards the expansion of the regulatory frameworks already functional in Mediterranean states west of the Levantine basin and simultaneously aims to give an assessment of these efforts. The main goal is to thoroughly evaluate the appropriateness of the existing cooperative methods and legal solutions regarding energy trade on an open market between developed states for countries with different political interests in a highly unstable area of constant sociological and political turbulence.

Description: This article aims to quantify the effects of energy policy on power prices. A fundamental model is used to replicate wholesale market prices and to analyse the impact of a change in single price drivers such as coal prices or subsidies for new renewables. It is shown that approximately 50 per cent of the wholesale power price decrease in Germany of the last few years is due to market effects such as the decrease of coal and gas prices as well as the decrease in electricity demand. Only approximately 30 per cent of the price decrease can be directly associated with the subsidies for new renewable energies such as wind and solar. The first part of this article reviews the three policy objectives which guide energy strategy in Europe. In the second part two theoretic models of energy policy governance, namely the direct and multiple steering approach are introduced. Moreover, the article quantifies the impacts of the policy instruments on wholesale power prices and challenges the current energy policies. The third part briefly discusses the effect of the energy policy impact of Fukushima, before the results of the fundamental model and the market effects are analysed in the fourth chapter. The last chapter quantifies all different drivers of power prices and concludes that market effects such as coal and gas prices are at least as important as all policy effects, such as subsidizing renewables or abandoning nuclear power, combined.

Description: Renewable energy is growing worldwide in terms of generation capacity and investment inflows. However, barriers to the transition to renewable energy remain in many countries. This article analyses the barriers to renewable energy in South Africa in the context of global growth, which in 2014, saw South Africa in the top 10 of investments into renewable energy. Regulation through law has potential to address many of the barriers to renewable energy, but investors should understand the nature and extent of these barriers to guide future investment decisions into renewable energy. Law is one of the social, regulatory, and economic instruments that can be used to control and shape development. However, in South Africa the energy and environmental law and policy have not sufficiently addressed the obstacles to renewable energy technologies. Cheap fossil fuel energy led to short-term economic growth, which, in the long term, is not environmentally sustainable. While a lot has been done to enable renewable energy, challenges remain that may make it difficult for investors and foreign corporations to enter the South African renewable energy market. This article concludes that, while the context (socio-economic and political) of obstacles to renewable energy is relevant, legal and policy barriers are overriding and should be the focus of effort in order to create an enabling regulatory environment.

Description: Canada’s hydrocarbon pipeline business is heading towards decline and ultimate demise as the global combat against climate change drives action on decarbonization and energy transition, and as a result of considerations relating to national and energy security. The accelerating dynamic in the context of change in the dominating engineering paradigm means that this change will be relatively rapid, ie less than 10 years from commencement to completion. Government will need to make certain that the owners and operators of hydrocarbon pipelines have sufficient funds to cover all decommissioning and costs relating to legal liability.

Description: The Southern Gas Corridor project has been designed to bring natural gas from Azerbaijan to European markets, crossing six transit countries. The cost of the overall project, including upstream development, is estimated at around $45 billion, making it the largest cross-border gas project in the world by several measures such as the length of the pipeline, the number of participating companies, governments, regulators and contractors, and the level of investment and financing. The umbrella legal framework of the project is laid out in the production sharing agreement (PSA), in various inter-governmental and host government agreements with transit countries, and in long-term gas sales and transportation agreements with European gas buyers and transporters respectively. Given the massive geographical scale of the project, its legal framework is complex. In addition to the key project legal agreements, the project's legal framework involves the interplay of the application of a variety of laws at the national (host/transit countries), regional (EU) and international law levels. This article reviews the key legal and regulatory issues and developments in this major gas transit project. Given the complex legal structure of the project and the differing approaches of the various transit countries and investors, a challenging legal question was how to align these perspectives and achieve uniform legal principles and mechanisms across all major project agreements, with diverse stakeholders. The resulting legal framework of the project may serve as a valuable precedent for the structuring of similar international energy transit projects in the future.

Description: Indonesia is blessed with numerous variants of energy resources; both renewable and non-renewable sources. From the plethora of alternatives, natural gas is among those energy resources which are gaining popularity, as evidenced by the significant increase in demand in recent years. Unfortunately, however, this positive increase in demand is not equally followed with the sufficient supply of natural gas. This consequently leads to a gap between the supply of natural gas and the increasing demand from the market. In order to equalize this disparity between supply and demand, numerous experts have raised the idea of further regulating the natural gas aggregator to resolve this issue. This article will provide a general overview of the definition of natural gas aggregators contained under the draft presidential regulation regarding downstream gas management and to compare it with the existing definitions of natural gas aggregators.

Description: This article focuses on reviewing energy law education in the UK. For such a fast-growing discipline it is important to reflect on the features that give cohesiveness to its curriculum development: how it is taught; who is teaching it and where it is being taught; and what content is given to the curriculum offered? Is it, for example, national in focus or international, or both? A recent review on the state of energy law education in the US demonstrates the scale and ambition of energy law education in that country. This article complements that exercise by providing a review of energy law education in the UK as at 2016. By comparing and contrasting the two approaches, we can glean some distinctive features of the UK approach. More research is needed on energy law education but from this article it is clear that energy law has taken a foothold in legal education in the UK.

Description: Australian energy markets, like EU markets, have been administratively led over recent decades to create more competitive markets. There have been many inquiries and reports by Australian government agencies on regulatory, economic and competition law aspects of energy markets. A recent controversial report by the competition agency recommends increased price regulation of natural gas pipelines on the grounds, not of enhancing competition, but of ameliorating market power of pipeline operators, to create perceived efficiency benefits in downstream and upstream markets. The change in emphasis from ‘competition’ to ‘efficiency’ raises important issues for the energy sector and competition law generally in Australia because market power is traditionally assessed by reference to structural analysis, and the institutional framework generally limits the jurisdiction of Australian courts to ‘competition’ assessment while conferring jurisdiction on administrative agencies to assess ‘efficiency’. This article discusses the competition law implications of these recent developments for the energy sector, particularly natural gas, with respect to market power and access to facilities, having regard to EU and US third-party access regimes.

Description: The Sherman Act, with its origin in the Populist and Progresive eras, was enacted to break up ‘trusts’ like the Standard Oil Company, a vertically and horizontally integrated exploration and production company. Over 100 years later, the DOJ challenged the proposed merger of Halliburton and Baker Hughes, two oil-field services companies. The government feared that the merger would potentially raise prices of servces provided by these companies to E&P companies, which are some of the largest corporations in the world and include many direct descendants of Standard Oil. Energy is of great importance to the US economy. As a result, it is closely scrutinized by the US antitrust agencies-the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. This article summarizes US antitrust laws and their origins, describes recent changes in the oil and gas industry, explains how those changes have influenced the enforcement articles of the DOJ and FTC, reviews the current industry and antitrust trends, identifies likely enforcement activity in the near future and discusses the potential effect of the US's 2016 Presidential election on antitrust enforcement.

Description: This article examines the possibility for joint purchases LNG from United States by consortiums of European Union based companies. The main focus of the study is to examine and apply the rules of EU competition law to joint purchasing of US-based LNG. The article will discuss various sensitive areas for this type of cooperation and provide guidance on how to address the most difficult issues from a competition law perspective.

Description: The internal market for electricity and gas, which European Union (EU) Member States were to have completed by 2014, is intended to deliver real choice for all consumers and achieve competitive prices. Today’s reality is often the opposite: despite the advanced liberalization of the energy sector, and formal market opening in line with the EU energy acquis , several Member States continue to regulate retail energy prices. In the short term, price regulation is not necessarily bad for customers. Retail prices are regulated below ‘real’ costs so that customers benefit from artificially low prices. However, in the long term, price regulation dissuades customers from seeking better deals, and acts as a barrier preventing energy suppliers from entering the market. From a legal point of view, regulated energy prices also give rise to concerns. This article will show that State interference runs counter to the liberalization objective of the EU rules on the internal energy market and may, in particular cases, also involve State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU. It will be shown that these EU rules proceed from price-setting on a free market and competitive basis, while State intervention is allowed only in exceptional and specifically justified circumstances. Other EU legal provisions address competition in the sector too, such as collusion, abuse of dominance and merger control: our focus here is to show that other instruments under the broad umbrella of competition law are also crucial in developing and protecting the competitive process. The European Commission is therefore right in insisting on phase-out timetables for regulated energy prices and continuing to promote market-based price formation.

Description: The article aims to verify which conducts, in the context of assignment agreements regarding participating interest held in oil and gas exploration and production assets (generally known as a farm-out or farm-in agreement), would engender premature consummation of transactions before the final decision from the antitrust authorities (infraction known as gun jumping) in the new Brazilian pre-merger control review system. It start by explaining why farm-out agreements are subject to mandatory pre-merger control in Brazil. Subsequently, the article lists and explains the activities that may engender gun jumping before and within the antitrust analysis of a farm-out transaction, such as exchange of information, contractual clauses during the interim period and other activities. It also contains suggestions to reduce gun jumping risks regarding each of such type of activities.

Description: The World Trade Organization (WTO) cannot deal comprehensively with restrictive export practices maintained by energy cartels such as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The main reason for this is the absence of competition rules in the multilateral trading system. However, in spite of the fact that the WTO does not have rules on competition, it does provide for other rules, such as General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article XI on the General Elimination of Quantitative Restrictions. This contribution will take a law and economics approach and explore whether restrictive practices in the energy sector as maintained by OPEC could be caught by this Article. It will analyse whether OPEC’s ‘monopolist market power instrument of choice’, namely the administration of production quota on petroleum, could fall within its definition. To this end, this contribution aims to understand the economic and legal rationales and functioning of both the WTO and OPEC.

Description: ReinsLeonie, Regulating Shale Gas: The Challenge of Coherent Environmental and Energy Regulation, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 2017, 1–203 pages, ISBN 978-1-78643-318-3.

Description: MosesJonathon W. and LetnesBjørn, Managing Resource Abundance and Wealth: The Norwegian Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN: 978-0-19-878717-4, 321 pages, GBP 60.00

Description: The Pre-Salt Polygon1 1 is amongst the most important oil and natural gas discoveries of the last few years in Brazil and globally. In July 2017, its production represented 48.2 per cent of total Brazilian output.2 2 Due to the geological structure of the area, and the presence of fields already granted under concession agreements and onerous assignment agreements, this will probably result in the signing of many unitization agreements (UAs) in the next few years. The Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) is about to regulate ‘procedures and guidelines for the unitization agreement negotiation’, according to Article 34 of the Pre-salt Law. In compliance with this article, ANP published Resolution No 25 of 2013 on 9 July 2013, which regulates the unitization procedure in Brazil, covering onshore and offshore E&P operations. These rules provided solutions to issues that the revoked Article 27 of Petroleum Law, the various E&P concession agreements and other ANP Resolutions could not solve, although other issues, especially relating to open areas located in the Pre-salt Polygon, remain. The National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) has published Resolution No 8 of 2016, establishing unitization guidelines for the process of involving open areas. CNPE has also launched Resolution No 7 of 2017, which provides guidelines on local content in unitization areas. Following the new CNPE policies, ANP amended its Resolution No 25 of 2013, through Resolution No 698 of 2017. This article gives a brief update of the Brazilian regulatory framework for E&P activities and discusses the unitization process, highlighting the main changes and observing what will be important to consider in all the forthcoming unitization activity.

Description: It is now over 20 years since the seminal paper on energy law as a discipline was published. The aim of this article is to review what currently constitutes energy law after this 20-year hiatus. There are two main ambitions of this article, which we hope will have a similar impact on the field. The first is to develop for scholars and practitioners a view of what constitutes energy law—and to make this accessible to both law and non-law energy scholars. The second is to advance a set of core principles that guide energy law, in essence a treatise for energy law. We advocate for a paradigm shift in our current understanding of what constitutes energy law. We advance that it should revolve around this set of guiding principles; however, we acknowledge that to some degree it is perhaps not a paradigm shift due to the current absence of any core principles of energy law. Nevertheless we argue that in our advancing of a guiding set of principles we set out a new path for the study of energy law and thus we aim to change what constitutes energy law and challenge the assumptions of existing researchers as globally society moves towards a transition to low-carbon economies.

Description: Exploration and production companies frequently partner with host countries that struggle to maintain political stability and eliminate security threats, making it difficult to develop security strategies to protect company employees and assets in country. Exploring this problem, we interview elite actors who populate germane risk management networks, providing a cross-section of perspectives as to how well upstream producers are crafting and implementing security risk management strategies. We construct a model of holistic security risk governance, and apply it to what our dataset reveals about firm performance in this area. Finally, we recommend ways in which industry-level responses can support exploration and production companies to reduce their risk and enhance their performance.

Description: CameronPeter D. and StanleyMichael C., Oil, Gas and Mining: A Source Book for Understanding the Extractive Industries, World Bank, 2017, ISBN (paper): 978-0-8213-9658-2, e-ISBN: 978-0-8213-9961-3, 321pages, Free (online access) http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/222451496911224999/pdf/115792-PUB-PUBLIC-PUBDATE-6-6-17.pdf

Description: When investments have been made in an area in which a state asserts its sovereignty, but its boundaries later shift, which investment protection treaties apply? To illustrate this issue, this article focuses on the petroleum licences in the Atlantic Ocean between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire as an investment, which were recently the subject of international proceedings on delimitation of the maritime boundary. This uncertainty arises regardless of how the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea would have delimited the maritime boundary. Potential issues arising from investment treaties include: the definition of an investor, the definition of territory and the timing of the investment. Depending on how the Ghana/Côte d’Ivoire boundary disputes were resolved, investment arbitrations could be commenced against either, or both, of the states. The problems highlighted in this article are relevant to many other unsettled territorial and maritime boundaries in the world which may trigger investment disputes.

Description: In the context of the petroleum sector, for the first time in many years, the Nigerian government is now boldly and in an openly sincere manner; confronting challenges, which cut across the Nigerian upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors. These challenges stem from legacy and unresolved systemic problems, which have been addressed at varying levels of success in the past and which have now been exposed and exacerbated by the global downturn of oil prices. This article examines the nature of these challenges, the current efforts to tackle them by the Nigerian government and proffers solutions as to how best to resolve them.

Description: Hindered by unceasing disagreements between the European Union and Russia throughout the 2000s, the Energy Charter Process is currently attempting to adapt to the changing market environment and regional political context. Its Modernization, announced in 2010, aims at the Process’ geographical expansion and a comprehensive reassessment of the Energy Charter provisions. The first step towards the restoration of the Process’ eluding leadership in global energy governance resulted in the non-binding International Energy Charter, signed in May 2015 by more than 70 countries from all over the world. Notwithstanding these results, the article questions the advancement of the Modernization beyond rhetorical commitments made at the 2015 International Energy Charter Conference. Interpreting the Modernization in light of the theories of institutional change and informal governance, the article contends that a high level of dissatisfaction among participants, the presence of powerful actors eager to contain certain institutional changes, a high level of regime complexity, a significant gap between causal beliefs and formal structures within the Process, and a high heterogeneity of members’ preferences are likely to challenge the internal consistency of the Process and to invoke its regionalization and, further, legal fragmentation. The findings cast new light on the limitations of multilateralism in energy and discuss why (regional) issue-specific arrangements are arguably the most feasible form of international institutionalization in energy.

Description: Nord Stream 2 is a highly controversial megaproject. This text shows that the political controversy surrounding Nord Stream 2 does not necessarily translate to legal controversy. The text does so by considering three controversially discussed European and international legal aspects of the Nord Stream 2 project. The article commences by evaluating whether and how [whether and how] the recent amendment to the European Union (EU) Directive 2009/73/EC concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas affects the legal status of Nord Stream 2. The text concludes that Directive 2009/73/EC (as amended) makes it considerably more difficult to operate Nord Stream 2. It will also be established that legal uncertainty remains concerning the amended Directive’s compliance with European and international law, and that bilateral relations between Russia and Germany are, in any case, unaffected by changes in EU law. The article then proceeds to evaluate the argument that Germany’s involvement with Nord Stream 2, in light of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, violates international law since Germany, by doing so, violates the obligation not to recognize or support annexation by an aggressor state. This argument is rejected. Even if one assumes that Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol was unlawful, Germany’s support of Nord Stream 2 cannot be legally construed as support for Russia’s activities concerning Crimea and Sevastopol. Finally, the article considers the international legal framework conditioning the currently still outstanding permission by Denmark to lay Nord Stream 2 pipelines through the Danish territorial sea/the Danish Exclusive Economic Zone. In this regard, it is concluded that the legal scope for Denmark to reject Nord Stream 2’s application for permission to lay the pipeline through Danish waters is very limited.

Description: The Co-operative Republic of Guyana has become one of the most interesting and dynamic oil producing countries in the world at the start of the 21st century. The country already holds 5 billion barrels of proved reserves, which will certainly grow with new discoveries. Exxon leads a consortium of four companies that have the concession of the Stabroek Block (Liza Field), where nine discoveries have been made so far. Five FPSOs will be operating in the future, one of which is due to arrive in Guyana before the end of 2019 and another is due for 2020. By then, the country will be producing 340,000 barrels a day. This production will double and then reach 1 million barrels a day before the end of the next decade. The challenges and opportunities regarding the Guyanese people are dire. The lack of proper infrastructure is certainly one of the biggest challenges. But it is important to stress that the oil proceeds will transform Guyana into the highest GDP per capita of South America. The political stage is also analysed, since political instability might raise concerns for long-term investors. The Venezuela–Guyana differences regarding the sovereignty of the Essequibo Region are again a cause for concern. Brazil is a key player in supporting the geopolitical stability of South America. Presidential elections will be held in 2019/2020: the dispute will probably be between the current President Granger and the Opposition candidate Irfaan Ali. Guyana has a lot to profit from the wealth brought by oil exploitation, but its people fear the risk of growing corruption.

Description: Over the last few years Peru has worked hard to become an important receptor of foreign investment. The oil and gas sector in Peru considers foreign investment crucial for sustaining its development. This article explores how the lack of action attributable to key governmental entities is driving the oil and gas industry in Peru to a critical situation that over time may result in foreign investment walking away from Peru. The article presents key governmental actors' roles, regulation and the general framework of Peru's oil and gas scenery. Public sources, statistics and records released by the key governmental actors are also presented for evidencing the negative results obtained in the Peruvian oil and gas industry as a consequence of the current administration's lack of adequate action. Reference is also made to some public specific cases to serve as examples to the reader. It is hoped that this article serves to remind the oil and gas community of the relevance of the role of governmental entities not only in attracting new foreign investment to a country for the signing of new licence agreements, but also the important role that said entities have during the execution of the licence agreements. Finally, we hope that the Peruvian authorities take action and by acting jointly with the Peruvian oil and gas community reverse the current trend in Peru.