International offshore petroleum contracts: Towards the compatibility of energy need and sustainable development.
Date
1993
Authors
Gao, Zhiguo.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Dalhousie University
Abstract
Description
International oil companies have carried out exploration and exploitation in many developing countries since the turn of this century. The legal and commercial relationship between petroleum producing countries and foreign oil companies was defined and governed by what were called traditional oil concession agreements before the 1950s, and since then by what are known as modern petroleum contracts.
This dissertation scrutinizes the development policies behind the evolution of various arrangements for offshore petroleum exploitation. By studying the examples of contracts in four developing countries (Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil and China), it examines in particular the issues of mutuality of interests and environmental sustainability that are reflected in both the structure and substance of the modern petroleum contracts that have emerged since the 1950s.
The major findings are that modern petroleum contracts are generally able to achieve and maintain a necessary balance of rights, interests and benefits between the contracting parties, but they have failed to produce any balance between the extraction of resources and environmental sustainability. The existing contractual systems have failed in principle to provide adequate environmental regulation and, moreover, they have not addressed the issue of sustainable development at all.
The arrangements that have focused on economic interests are inappropriate for future energy development, but through the proper use of contract terms that contain elements favouring sustainable development, economic and environmental interests can nevertheless be accommodated and served at the same time.
The future direction for petroleum agreements is that they must recognize explicitly the inherent independence and coexistence of commerciality and sustainable development.
Thesis (J.S.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1993.
This dissertation scrutinizes the development policies behind the evolution of various arrangements for offshore petroleum exploitation. By studying the examples of contracts in four developing countries (Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil and China), it examines in particular the issues of mutuality of interests and environmental sustainability that are reflected in both the structure and substance of the modern petroleum contracts that have emerged since the 1950s.
The major findings are that modern petroleum contracts are generally able to achieve and maintain a necessary balance of rights, interests and benefits between the contracting parties, but they have failed to produce any balance between the extraction of resources and environmental sustainability. The existing contractual systems have failed in principle to provide adequate environmental regulation and, moreover, they have not addressed the issue of sustainable development at all.
The arrangements that have focused on economic interests are inappropriate for future energy development, but through the proper use of contract terms that contain elements favouring sustainable development, economic and environmental interests can nevertheless be accommodated and served at the same time.
The future direction for petroleum agreements is that they must recognize explicitly the inherent independence and coexistence of commerciality and sustainable development.
Thesis (J.S.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1993.
Keywords
Law., Political Science, International Law and Relations., Energy.