Module LAW41015: Introduction to the Law of Oil Contracts

Department: Law

LAW41015: Introduction to the Law of Oil Contracts

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This course aims to provide the student with an introduction to the field of commercial exploitation of natural resources as exemplified by so-called oil contracts, with a special focus on cross-jurisdictional issues and the Arab world

Content

• Historical and legal background of Oil Contracts, including impact of local political imperatives and managing parties’ interests when forming contracts.
• Overview of the main instruments and contract types used within the oil industry, including Joint Operating Agreements and Buy-Back Contracts. Review of the major regulatory framework.
• Analysis of obligations and liabilities under contracts between host governments and oil investors, including allocation of liability for agreed quality and output.
• Comparative overview of cross-jurisdictional oil contracts: challenges of conforming to local regulation and transacting in the Arab world.
• Overview of dispute resolution methods within oil contracts, including difficulties arising from cross-border arbitration and litigation.
• Possibility of consolidating oil contracts: the United Nations Model Oil Contracts.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will gain an in-depth knowledge of the various regulatory and contractual frameworks, challenges faced in multi-jurisdictional contracts, means of enforcing oil contracts and models developed by international organisations for the purpose of consolidating oil contracts.
• Students will develop a critical understanding of the legal and political, issues underlying the formation of oil contracts, including the practical realities of operating within idiosyncratic local legal systems

• Employ materials from the range of sources concerning oil contracts within multiple legal systems. Students will be able to work with a variety of international and comparative law materials in the area of petroleum law, including practitioner and business information. They will be able to apply general principles in petroleum law to evaluate sample oil contracts. They will understand the historical, political, and diplomatic contexts in which certain oil contracts have developed and the continuing controversies surrounding petroleum collaboration with foreign companies.
• Students will be able to undertake research in international and comparative law materials in the area of oil contracts.

• Students will be able to:
• Undertake independent research.
• Demonstrate an ability to understand and critically analyse complex issues of international and comparative law

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Seminars are designed to introduce students to central issues in the law of oil contracts, including both theoretical and practical issues. Seminars will include structured reading lists of academic literature and international and comparative law materials which students will use to prepare for classroom discussion. Discussion in seminars will focus on historical, political, cultural and economic issues underlying oil contracts, with a special focus on the Arab world. Students will develop their ability to present and evaluate critically arguments in relation to the law of exploitation of oil resources.
• Assessment by essay will develop students' abilities to undertake research in international and comparative law materials in the area of oil contracts, and to think critically and engage with debates in a cogent way. They will be able to work independently to develop their research and arguments. The essay also develops written communication skills through the structure and presentation of a sustained argument in answer to an essay question

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will be required to complete an essay of no more than 1500 words on a topic that will be provided in week 2 of the Term

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University