The module will contain an overview of the industry and the key economic and political actors, and provide an introduction to the role of oil and gas in international relations and to the economics of the industry. The course will also introduce to the principles of public and private international law relevant to the industry, and how these operate in practice with reference to industry-specific contracts, agreements and instruments.
There will be a detailed analysis of 'upstream' issues and the legal issues surrounding exploration, including a comparative analysis of the different legal regimes surrounding exploration rights and specific problems with exploration, such as joint exploration and exploration in disputed territory.
The module will also examine a number of specific types of oil and gas operations and transactions in the upstream sector and beyond. These arrangements include various commercial contracts used in the course of petroleum upstream operations, sale and disposal of upstream assets, decommissioning, sale and shipping of oil and gas, and gas allocation, balancing and processing agreements. The course will not be confined to any specific legal system and will be comparative in its orientation. Examples of legal regimes and practices from various parts of the world will be relied upon throughout the course.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Demonstrate understanding of the operation of the oil and gas industry and the main actors in the industry (public and private) and the relevant key principles of public and private law;
Understand the types of transactions used in the final stages of upstream operations and beyond;
Identify the central legal issues and problems surrounding and arising in the industry;
Understand of range of approaches taken by various legal systems to the structuring and governing the said oil and gas operations;
Analyse the relationship between various aspects of oil and gas law and commercial practices in the international petroleum industry;
Identify those types of commercial arrangements which are unique to the oil and gas sector from a comparative approach with reference to legal systems such as the UAE legal system and the UK legal system where relevant;
Demonstrate and appreciation of the relationship between legal rules, principles, arrangements and structures which are highly specific to the oil and gas sector, on the one hand, and the relevant areas of public, international, commercial and contract law, on the other;
Apply and analyse the law in a variety of commercial contexts within the oil and gas industry.
