35. Offshore Oil and Gas Exploitation

The extraction of oil and gas resources—both onshore and offshore—still serves to meet the major share of global energy needs. For decades, exploring and exploiting hydrocarbon resources offshore ranks among the traditional commercial uses of the continental shelf of coastal States. However, this activity creates significant potential threats to the marine environment, as evidenced, in particular by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico but also by the 2009 Montara oil spill which heavily affected Indonesia although the blow-out occurred in Australian waters. Nevertheless, and surprisingly, the offshore oil and gas industry is not regulated by a global multilateral framework even though there are some generally applicable rules of public international law and of regional organizations. Rather, the offshore oil and gas industry is predominantly regulated by national laws. Furthermore, it is subject to a largely self-regulating industry which traditionally applies its own contractual solutions in a highly capital-intensive sector. This article intends to give a bird’s-eye view and a more “hands on” (i.e. less academic) approach to discuss the somewhat unique regulatory framework for offshore oil and gas operations and of the contractual system under which this industry performs its services.