This innovative book explores the legal character of petroleum licences, a key vehicle governing the relationship between oil companies and their host states. Examining the issue through the lens of legal culture, it illustrates why some jurisdictions exert strong state control and others only minimal.Critically investigating the nature of a petroleum licence, the book analyses whether it is a mere administrative right, a contract or something more akin to property rights. Chapters examine recent developments, such as the UK's strategy of maximizing economic recovery and the opposition to drilling for oil in Norway and Australia. Outside of Western petroleum jurisdictions, the book also explores several long-established jurisdictions including Russia and Mexico, as well as emerging jurisdictions, such as China and Uganda. Taking a contextual and system-oriented approach, it reveals the preconditions of the petroleum licence regime and offers a critical insight into the reasons behind alterations to the terms of the licences. Encompassing a wide variety of legal cultures and experiences, this thought-provoking book will prove to be a valuable resource for academics and students of energy law, particularly those with an interest in state regulation. It will also provide useful insights for industry-based practitioners.

What does the future hold for oil and gas, what can we learn from the past and what role does law have to play in this? Using a unique temporal lens, this Research Handbook examines core themes in oil and gas regulation from historical, contemporary and forward-looking perspectives. Structured in three distinct parts, this Research Handbook begins by detailing the past dominance of oil, charting the role and influence of legal instruments and regulatory regimes governing petroleum. Using a diverse range of case study perspectives over several jurisdictions, the Research Handbook then turns to oil and gas in the modern world, with critical discussion of current petroleum legal regimes. It concludes with a series of forward-looking chapters that consider the future challenges and opportunities for oil and gas, and how petroleum-dependent states can both regulate and facilitate the age of energy transition. Surveying the technological shifts of the oil and gas sector through time, this comprehensive Research Handbook will prove an invigorating read for scholars and students of energy and natural resource law disciplines. Its discussion of emerging technologies and community impact will prove particularly useful to regulators, policymakers, corporations and legal practitioners concerned with the future of energy.