Course Length: 2 Days Course Dates: TBA Course Venue:
Course Description:
International petroleum transactions occur within a complex legal environment that limits what petroleum companies, host governments and service companies can do, and interprets and enforces many of their promises. Petroleum professionals often lack the broad understanding of what makes up this legal environment and how it can have an impact on their work. This course is designed to give participants a basic understanding of the legal fundamentals that make their international transactions work, including the principles that apply to interpreting and enforcing their agreements, the procedures for resolving their disputes, addressing interpretational issues posed by common contract provisions, and avoiding liability under environmental and bribery laws. The course will teach participants to confidently identify potential legal problems, address them before they become serious, and facilitate the smooth interaction between oil and gas professionals, host government representatives, and their lawyers.
Who Should Attend:
Petroleum managers who deal with international oil and gas legal matters in the course of their business, and legal professionals with little formal, specialized training in oil and gas law, but expect to deal with international oil and gas law matters.
Course Outline:
· Law governing international petroleum transactions (including significant differences between various national legal systems, and the sources, principles, and limits of international law as applied to petroleum transactions)
· Interpretation and enforcement of treaties and private contracts
· Effects of international trade (and producing country) agreements such as the E.U., NAFTA, Mercosur, and OPEC
· Dispute resolution approaches, including litigation and arbitration
· Procedures under and enforcement of common arbitration provisions
· Legal defenses available to foreign companies, states, and state-owned or connected entities, and recognition and enforcement of judgments and arbitration awards
· Basic legal concepts of ownership of mineral rights (onshore, offshore, and deep sea bed)
· Expropriation and compensation issues
· State-owned entities and privatization
· Laws bearing on development rights
· Legal interpretational issues of common contract provisions Interpretational issues for service contracts
· Transfer and protection of technology and confidential business information
· Operating agreements and unitized operations
· Environmental protection laws
· Criminal and civil liability for oil spills Indemnification and guaranty issues
· Bribery laws
· Marketing and transportation
· Petroleum futures
What you will Learn:
· Recognize differences between international legal systems and transactions
· Understand legal fundamentals behind international transactions