Research & Collaboration
Offshore Energy
Professor Keith B. Hall is working with offshore energy experts from other institutions on collaborative projects, such as scholarship and conferences. Professor Hall’s collaboration includes work with Professor Raphael Heffron of the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee, and Dr. Eduardo G. Pereira, an international oil and gas scholar and attorney who is the author or editor of several books on oil and gas matters. Their current initiative is described below.
Legal Challenges for the Sustainable Development of Energy Resources at Sea
1. Research Topic
This research project seeks to identify the major legal challenges to the sustainable development of energy resources at sea, examine the extent to which these challenges remain consistent or differ from one jurisdiction to another, and consider the legal and regulatory model most advantageous for countries that desire to promote exploration and production of energy resources at sea.
2. Project Synopsis
A first objective of this research project is to review and compare the legal challenges faced by countries with significant experience with offshore developments in order to understand the issues they faced, the approach they have followed in regulation, and the successes and shortcomings of those approaches.
A second objective is to determine what past experiences with offshore energy development can teach countries that either are developing offshore resources for the first time or which are beginning to develop different offshore energy resources than they have developed in the past.
This research raises at least the following questions: (1) How should offshore development be regulated? (2) How can a nation protect the marine environment and develop energy resources at the same time? (3) How to explore energy resources at the high sea in and at disputed areas? (4) How to allow the co-existence of different offshore developments (e.g. oil, gas, wind farms)?
3. Deliverables
The coordinators of this project anticipate developing seminars, conferences and workshops to exchange ideas and disseminate the ultimate findings and recommendations to the target countries and to industry. To the extent funding is available, these would be held in multiple countries. The coordinators also am to publish a book or articles by 2020.
4. Participation
The coordinators envisage five ways individuals and institutions can participate in the project: as a host/organizer, as member of the advisory board, as contributing author, as an institutional support, or through sponsorship. We aim to involve relevant key stakeholders, industry players, host governments and third parties within the target countries in the project.
5. Project Coordinators and Editors
Professor Keith B. Hall, Louisiana State University Law School
Dr. Eduardo G. Pereira, International Energy Law Scholar and Attorney
Professor Raphael Heffron, University of Dundee
