Decommissioning of Offshore Oil and Gas Installations under the International Law

Abstract

The decommissioning of offshore oil and gas installations is considered as one of the most complicated problems of our time, that comprises broad legal, economic, political and environmental issues. Although such factors have always been important in oil and gas industry, but with the decline of production from oil and gas fields since mid 1980s it has turned into a serious challenge for the oil companies and states. This paper seeks to identify the challenges faced by the oil and gas industry regarding the issue of decommissioning of offshore oil and gas installations, and furthermore to identify the regional and international applicable law on decommissioning and their efficiency. The paper concludes that the existing international regulations lack the required consistency and efficiency. Moreover, currently integration or formation of customary international law concerning decommissioning of offshore oil and gas installations would be impossible due to lack of necessary basis for the creation of such rule.

Keywords

• offshore oil and gas installations
• decommissioning
• offshore residuals disposal
• sustainable development