Petroleum
Contracts. English Law and Practices
Oxford
University Press, 2016 (Second Edition)
In
response to the primacy of English law as the lingua franca governing petroleum
transactions, and the increased global demand for new sources of oil and gas,
this work analyses the application of English law to contracts for project
investment, financing, and development. The scope extends, unusually, beyond
petroleum contracts made in the UK to cover all petroleum contracts worldwide,
delivering exceptionally extensive coverage of this ever-growing sector.
This
book covers the essential operational detail practitioners and parties need, as
well as advising on the implications of English law on the interpretation of
relevant provisions.
This
work is a stand-alone practical guide on the application of English law to
petroleum contracts, and provides a detailed and scholarly level of analysis,
with reference to all relevant contracts and case law. Beginning with an
introduction to the English legal system and the law of general contract, the
author goes on to distinguish those characteristics that set petroleum
contracts apart from others, including distinction between upstream, midstream,
and downstream agreements. The contracts considered include those for the
financing, management, sale, purchase and exchange of petroleum assets and
interests (collectively called interest contracts), and contracts for the
management, sale, purchase and exchange of petroleum quantities and petroleum
storage, transportation and capacities (collectively called commodity
contracts). Subsequent chapters introduce preliminary petroleum contracts and
the obligation to negotiate, conditions precedent and subsequent, joint
ventures, and the involvement third parties and the implications for privity in
this context. Breaches and doctrines triggered by the impossibility of
performance are set out in detail, alongside legal advice on damages,
termination, liability allocation and equitable remedies. All relevant
provisions are analyzed in a final chapter of miscellaneous analysis, ensuring
a truly comprehensive treatment of the sector.
