Courses

The exploration and development of oil and gas in developing countries is often been conducted by international oil companies and relies on a relationship and agreements between a host government and/or governmental agency and a foreign private company.  

Exploration and production involves large, complex and risky investments.  In addition, due to the strategic importance of petroleum to both consumers and producers, such agreements have always been politically charged.  Over time these agreements have retained certain fundamental characteristics and these complex characteristics are the reason why arbitration is often used as a method for the settlement of disputes.

Arbitration, specifically following the UNCITRAL rules, is generally the most commonly adopted method for the settlement of disputes in the oil and gas industries. Several factors have led to this.

They include:

• The technical nature of disputes requires an arbitrator with specialized knowledge;
• The contracts anticipate disputes and thereby require provisions for resolution proceedings;
• Arbitration is more favored by multinational oil and gas companies around the world; and
• Commercial interests overlap and the contractual relations between the parties prefer arbitration over litigation as litigation is known to be time consuming, adversarial and expensive.

The course contains two main parts.

The first part will include the international oil and gas contracts, various types of contract, and the main clauses for arbitration.  It will look at why disputes arise and the main causes of disputes and disagreements.

The second part will include the International Arbitration in oil and gas contracts.  It will use real case studies involving multi-party disputes between State and International Oil Companies.