Political and Investment Risk in the International Oil and Gas Industry

Book excerpt: This book examines the financial, legal and institutional strategies available to the international oil and gas industry to manage political and investment risk. The financial techniques for mitigating and allocating risk include corporate finance, joint ventures, and project finance. The legal techniques include production sharing agreements, profit sharing agreements, service contracts, bilateral investment treaties, and multilateral investment treaties. The institutional techniques include domestic courts, national constitutions, international arbitral tribunals, governmental and non-governmental regulatory agencies, alliances and energy diplomacy.This book traces the historical development of these techniques and their application in practice. The effectiveness with which companies manage political and investment risk is important for the financial sustainability of individual firms and the industry as whole. The real and perceived level of risk affects the level of exploration expenditures and therefore the balance between supply and demand, and the price of oil and natural gas. The search for a secure supply of oil and gas affects the political, military, and economic relations between countries. Consequently, every developed and developing country has placed energy policy at or near the top of its national priorities.