Course summary

In this course you will learn how governments regulate the oil industry. You will study the rules and regulations set out by producer governments dealing with oil and gas investors, and how the concerns of investors are dealt with. You'll examine the nature of the right to petroleum in the ground onshore and offshore, and the different ways in which governments can transfer or share the petroleum right with investors. You will also learn about:

• comparing the legal structure of each transfer and its practical result

• risk sharing mechanisms amongst investors

• how a government enforces its policy goals – depletion, safety, and environmental protection

• the contractual matrix surrounding oil and gas production projects

• the tax structures for resource and corporate taxes

• the fundamentals of petroleum economics and the influence of changing oil prices

• the nature of decommissioning installations and paying for decommissioning