Legislative Frameworks Used to Foster Petroleum Development

Download or read book Legislative Frameworks Used to Foster Petroleum Development written by William T. Onorato and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Identifies and explains the essential elements of legislative frameworks that have attracted foreign direct investment into the petroleum sector and hence fostered development of petroleum resources in host states. The main purpose of a legislative framework for petroleum development is to provide the basic context for, and the rules governing, petroleum operations in the host country; to regulate them, as they are carried out by domestic, foreign, and international enterprises; and to define the principal administrative, economic, and fiscal guidelines for investment activity in the sector.Experience shows that the cornerstone of effective petroleum legislative frameworks for exploration and production operations is a broad, generic, short but thorough petroleum law (not overdetailed), complemented by enabling regulations and one or several variants of a model contract. Such frameworks give both the host country and international oil company investors a clear legal and contractual context in which to negotiate mutually advantageous exploration and production arrangements that develop the host state's petroleum resources.The fiscal and tax aspects of the framework may be detailed in the petroleum law or in a separate petroleum revenue code, either of which would complete the legislative package. Onorato identifies and details the essential elements of such a framework - petroleum law, regulations, and model contracts - and explains how these three components relate to one another.This paper - a product of the Legal Department - is part of a larger effort to disseminate the Bank's experience in successful legal reform in the sectors in which it has been involved.