Suchergebnisse

This article analyses the decommissioning framework for oil and gas infrastructures in Brazil, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago. It examines whether the existing provisions in each country are able to guarantee that the government and, by extension taxpayers, do not bear the costs of decommissioning and, the consequences of insolvency on residual liabilities. An additional motivation for this examination is the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a pandemic with significant adverse impacts on the oil and gas industry. A likely consequence of the economic devastation from this is the insolvency of any party with decommissioning obligations.The article argues that the provisions of the Brazil petroleum legislation on the reversion of abandoned installations to the government could imply that taxpayers have to bear the residual liabilities without any compensation from the concerned concessionaires or contractors. It also argues that the provisions of the Petroleum Law to the effect that 'the reversion of facilities does not entail any expense whatsoever for the Brazilian government 'does not certainly translate to pecuniary compensation to the latter for assuming the future residual liabilities from abandoned installations. The Nigerian and the Trinidad &Tobago Decommissioning Framework also suffer the latter risk of the government bearing the residual liabilities for such disused installations.In Nigeria, the framework is silent on who bears the residual liabilities for disused installations. However, it is argued that the provisions of the Production Sharing Contracts on the transfer of ownership to the Nigerian government implies that they would have to bear eventual liabilities for such disused installations. Even in cases where the licensee or contractor may bear the burden of residual liabilities, the problem of future insolvency and cessation of such companies may entail that taxpayers bear the burden of residual liabilities. The article concludes with key recommendations on how to address the identified gaps using lessons from best practices such as United Kingdom, Norway and United States of America. One of such proposals is on the allocation of liability where there is a transfer of interest. Another is for joint and several or at least secondary liability of responsible parties even after decommissioning activities are over; a recommended provision to this effect is also provided. The third recommendation is on how time-constrained residual liability can be used alongside lump sum payments to limit the State's financial exposure for decommissioning costs.

"This book investigates the role of law in enabling and addressing the barriers to the development of Off-Grid Renewable Electricity (OGRE). The limited development of OGRE is ascribed to a host of social, economic and legal barriers including the problem of initial capital costs, existing subsidies for conventional electricity and lack of technological and institutional capacity. Through the analyses of selected case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, this book discusses the typical barriers to the development of OGRE from a global perspective and examines the role of the international climate change instruments in addressing them. Drawing together the lessons learned from the case studies, the book offers robust recommendations on how the development of OGRE will support the goal of achieving universal access to low carbon, reliable and sustainable electricity globally. This volume will be of great interest to students, scholars, policy makers, investors and practitioners in the fields of energy law and policy, climate change, and renewable energy development"--

Environmental challenges, which are evident in every part of the world, are happening more rapidly than ever and currently escalating. The threat, posed by our degrading environment, is principally triggered by our sustained use and production of fossil fuel energy. Yet, the fossil fuel energy industry continues to receive massive support in the form of subsidies every year which is worsening our environmental problems. Although, fossil fuel energy is widely considered to be environmentally harmful, recent estimates of global fossil fuel energy subsidies stand at hundreds of billions of dollars annually. The aim of this article is to address environmental challenges by redirecting societal choice towards environmentally beneficial energy resources through fossil fuel energy subsidies reforms. The article adopted the doctrinal research methodology and generated its data through international treaties, policy documents, textbooks, journal articles, manuscripts, monographs, and internet websites. The article finds that fossil fuel energy subsidies harm and creates environmental challenges including causing over-extraction of fossil fuel energy resources, causing local air pollution, providing significant market barriers to investment in renewable energy, and escalating climate change through increased emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The article also finds that fossil fuel energy subsidies reforms benefits the environment by creating significant fossil fuel energy resource efficiency gains, generating revenue to finance investment in renewable energy, mitigating climate change through reduction in GHG emissions, and reducing local air pollution. The article concludes with a call on the international community to start addressing environmental challenges through fossil fuel energy subsidies reforms.