LLM Transnational Oil, Gas and Energy Law
Our LLM Transnational Oil, Gas and Energy Law provides the only integrated and complete study of the complex legal relationships that define the sector.
All of the learning materials and approaches have been designed exclusively for this programme by our experts in online legal education. The award-winning team* is one of the longest-established and most effective providers of online LLMs in the UK, also recognised for their expertise in supporting work-based and inter-professional learning.
Transferable Skills and Effective Leadership
Our mission is to make you a highly effective specialist, capable of operating in a transnational context. This dynamic course will equip you with the transferable skills that are crucial to effective leadership, such as negotiation, critical drafting, problem solving and dispute resolution.
This course exclusively focuses on a comprehensive understanding of the practical aspects of oil and gas law. It’s principal concern is to develop practical skills and deep understanding of how to resolve the challenges posed by national authorities to oil, gas and energy production. The background of international law and regulation is also addressed in a relevant and contemporary way.
More than the traditional LLM
Using our unique skills-based approach, you will build networks as you strengthen your knowledge in an applied context. You will have the opportunity to acquire a mastery of legal principles and processes at the cutting edge of oil and gas law practice in a timely and cost effective way. You can choose to gain your qualification in bite-sized awards, built around practical application or more traditional LLM study through certificate, diploma and dissertation.
Studying online gives you the flexibility to develop your skills and expertise alongside your career, allowing you to design a personal study plan to suit your needs and requirements. You will be required to work to semester/term-time deadlines with the support of our expert online tutors and dedicated customer support team.
This course is offered in partnership with Informa Professional Academy.
* John Horder prize for Inter-professional Education (2008)
Personal support from expert online tutors
Designed to work with you as you engage in your professional activities, this course also enables you to step outside of your daily concerns to develop real levels of specialism such as practical application of energy law, application of economics. A particular strength is the personal support that is provided to you by expert online tutors and the integration of legal knowledge into practical activities drawn from real-world problems. An intrinsic part of your online learning will be the opportunity to discuss and debate course related subjects through online discussion forums and interactive classrooms.
Is this course right for me?
As a postgraduate qualification, it is aimed at those who have previous qualifications or significant experience in law – e.g.
- private practice lawyers in oil, gas and energy law or those lawyers hoping to specialise in these areas
- in-house lawyers from the upstream and downstream oil, gas and energy sectors
- non-legal professionals working in the oil gas and energy sectors, in particular finance, business development, licensing, procurement, taxation, distribution, renewables, compliance, environmental positions, operations, as well as project managers, contract managers and company secretaries.
It offers the flexibility to allow those currently directly engaged in the oil and gas industry to use their experience and gain credit for applying knowledge to their working context.
You can study the LLM to Postgraduate Certificate level (7 months), Postgraduate Diploma level (12 months) or complete the full LLM (18 months).
Course Length:
7-18 months
Start Dates:
September and May
Entry Requirements:
- You will need to possess a good undergraduate degree in a subject relevant to postgraduate study of justice systems; OR
- Be a graduate with significant experience through work or voluntary engagement in the justice sector; OR
- Be professionally qualified to work in the justice sector at a graduate stage or above.
If you do not have the appropriate grade or relevant degree, you may still be considered by the Admissions Tutor, who will assess your suitability for this course by taking into account your industry experience, previous learning and any other information provided on your application. If your application demonstrates substantial relevant experience, the Admissions Tutor will make an offer (if all other conditions in this section are met).
If English is not your first language
You will need an English language requirement of IELTS 7.0 or above.
If there is any uncertainty over your application and the details supplied, you may be requested to undertake a telephone or online interview.
Fees:
Please contact Joanna Horsfall at Informa Professional Academy for fee information:
T: +44 (0)20 3377 3512
Further information available on the Informa Professional Academy website.
Fees Description:
You can pay for this course by instalments if you are unable to pay the full fee upfront.
You can apply for this course through Informa Professional Academy.
Career Information:
An LLM is considered essential for the pursuit of an academic career but also is increasingly seen by employers as demonstrating practice specialism. This provides you with a genuine advantage when applying for positions within and beyond the legal sector.
This prestigious qualification can advance your career by giving you:
- the confidence to operate in a transnational context
- enhanced capabilities to analyse, negotiate and problem solve in a strategic context
- awareness of personal strengths and opportunities for improvement
- the ability to apply knowledge as you learn it, in real time and in a relevant professional and geographical context
- networking and outstanding personal support and personal development.
Testimonials:
Karen Marie Jones, graduate
"Undertaking the course was the best thing that I ever did!"
Paul Ainscough, graduate
"I would recommend anyone considering online study to seriously consider the University of Derby Online."
Course Leader:
Joanna Horsfall
T: +44 (0)20 3377 3512
You can apply for this course through Informa Professional Academy.
Modules Summary:
The LLM is built around six substantive modules, which together provide a comprehensive overview of transnational oil, gas and energy law. Modules are designed to be studied in complementary pairs, providing three thematic areas which can be studied in any order:
Theme A: Energy Finance and Economics Law
- National and International Regulation (20 credits)
- Procurement, Investment, Insurance and Reparation (20 credits)
- Applied Project in Energy Finance and Economics Law (20 credits)
Theme B: Energy Law and Practice
- Upstream Oil, Gas and Petroleum Contracting (20 credits)
- Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (20 credits)
- Applied Project in Energy Law and Practice (20 credits)
Theme C: Energy Sustainability Law
- Energy Processing and Distribution Law (20 credits)
- Law of Energy Security and Sustainability (20 credits)
- Applied Project in Energy Sustainability Law (20 credits)
There are three pathways available:
LLM (180 credits)
All three themes (A,B,C) are studied together with EITHER three Applied Project Modules OR the Indepdent Study.
Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits)
All three themes (A,B,C) are studied.
Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits)
You will need to study theme A OR theme C, plus one module from theme B. Alternatively you can choose to study theme A, B or C AND the Applied Project relevant to that theme to gain a named Postgraduate Certificate in:
- Energy Finance and Economics Law OR
- Energy Law and Practice OR
- Energy Sustainability Law.
Student Profile:
Karen Marie Jones, graduate
"Undertaking the course was the best thing that I ever did!"
Paul Ainscough, graduate
"I would recommend anyone considering online study to seriously consider the University of Derby Online."
Career Information
An LLM is considered essential for the pursuit of an academic career but also is increasingly seen by employers as demonstrating practice specialism. This provides you with a genuine advantage when applying for positions within and beyond the legal sector.
This prestigious qualification can advance your career by giving you:
- the confidence to operate in a transnational context
- enhanced capabilities to analyse, negotiate and problem solve in a strategic context
- awareness of personal strengths and opportunities for improvement
- the ability to apply knowledge as you learn it, in real time and in a relevant professional and geographical context
- networking and outstanding personal support and personal development.
Modules
The LLM is built around six substantive modules, which together provide a comprehensive overview of transnational oil, gas and energy law. Modules are designed to be studied in complementary pairs, providing three thematic areas which can be studied in any order:
Theme A: Energy Finance and Economics Law
- National and International Regulation (20 credits)
- Procurement, Investment, Insurance and Reparation (20 credits)
- Applied Project in Energy Finance and Economics Law (20 credits)
Theme B: Energy Law and Practice
- Upstream Oil, Gas and Petroleum Contracting (20 credits)
- Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (20 credits)
- Applied Project in Energy Law and Practice (20 credits)
Theme C: Energy Sustainability Law
- Energy Processing and Distribution Law (20 credits)
- Law of Energy Security and Sustainability (20 credits)
- Applied Project in Energy Sustainability Law (20 credits)
There are three pathways available:
LLM (180 credits)
All three themes (A,B,C) are studied together with EITHER three Applied Project Modules OR the Indepdent Study.
Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits)
All three themes (A,B,C) are studied.
Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits)
You will need to study theme A OR theme C, plus one module from theme B. Alternatively you can choose to study theme A, B or C AND the Applied Project relevant to that theme to gain a named Postgraduate Certificate in:
- Energy Finance and Economics Law OR
- Energy Law and Practice OR
- Energy Sustainability Law.
Stage 1
Core Module
The module covers, amongst other things:
- Licensing, concessions and production sharing agreements
- Mature Province Initiatives
- An introduction to maritime and territorial boundary issues
- Competition issues, including:
-
- Cartels
- Joint sales and production agreements
- Capacity reservation agreements
- Long term purchase agreements
- Territorial restrictions and destination clauses
- Abuse of a dominant position
- Mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector
- State Aid
- State guarantees
- Renewable support schemes
- Stranded costs
- Public service obligations.
-
- Property issues using national/regional case studies:
-
- Norwegian Continental Shel
- The Principle of National Property of Hydrocarbons in Mexico
- Chile, Brazil and Argentina
- United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan: service, account, functional, legal and ownership unbundling and independent system operator, and open access regimes.
-
Credits: 20
Core Module
- Procurement law for the oil and gas sector
- Investment protection, including:
-
- Foreign direct investment in developing economies
- Investment protection: legal structures and risk allocation
- Project company’s obligations and remuneration
- Protection against changes in law and changes in tax
- Breach of contract, remedies and host government responsibility.
- The IPP Model and international IPP market
-
- Host country’s procurement processes
- The Iraq case study
- Insurance and risk
-
- Risk and infrastructure development projects
- Individual categories of intergovernmental and host government risk
- Risk from the perspective of state and private sector counterparties, lenders, affected communities and other interested third parties
- Pre shipment finance models and examples
- Country risk of oil producing countries and political risk insurance
- Back-to-back letters of credit, guarantees, forfeiting and all financial products
-
- Trader financing issues
- Oil and Gas taxation, including:
-
- Introduction to municipal and international taxation principles
- Oil Industry Accounts
- Product-based taxes – case studies
- Interest, investment and financing
- Decommissioning
-
Credits: 20
Optional Module
- You will engage in observation and enquiry within a workplace or industrial context
- This will be complemented by in-depth independent and guided research into relevant areas of energy finance and economics law
- Learners will also draw upon substantive knowledge and skills developed in co-requisite modules.
Credits: 20
Stage 2
Core Module
As part of this module you will cover the following areas:
- Common components of contracts, including quality and pressure, liabilities and limitations, force majeure and dispute resolution
- Joint ventures, including:
- Mineral laws and concessions
- The JOA and the concession
- Evolution in the JOA relationship
- Model form contracts
- Incorporated and unincorporated joint ventures
- Agreements, including:
- The bidding process and bidding agreements
- Pre-unitisation agreements
- Unitisation agreements
- Oil and gas lifting agreements
- Sleeping Partner agreements
- Decommissioning agreements
- Decommissioning security agreements, parent company guarantees and performance bonds
- Buying and selling upstream assets
- Decommissioning of upstream oil and gas facilities
- Services contracts, including:
- Production platform and FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) construction agreements
- Production platform and FPSO operating agreemnts
- Contracts for producing services
- Platform ancillary services agreements
- European Case Study
- JOAs in detail.
Credits: 20
Core Module
As part of this module you will cover the following areas:
- General principles of international arbitration:
-
- Nature and limits of arbitration and its treatment by various legal systems
- Jurisdiction, powers and obligations of an arbitrator
- Arbitration distinguished from other forms of dispute resolution
- The laws applicable in international commercial arbitration
- Key features of enforceability
- Institutional arbitration and ad hoc arbitration
- Arbitration processes
- UNCITRAL Model Law and national arbitration laws
- Awards
-
- Oil and gas arbitration
-
- Host states control mechanisms
- The legal rights of the host state to expropriate
- Direct and indirect expropriations
- The renegotiability of international petroleum agreements
- Adaptation
-
- JOA case studies
- Default and dispute resolution in practice, including:
-
- Default, remedies and forfeiture
- Default remedies in JOAs
- Expert determination
- Arbitration and litigation
- Jurisdiction
- Consolidation
- Sovereign immunity
-
Credits: 20
Optional Module
You will engage in observation and enquiry within a workplace or industrial context. This will be complemented by in-depth, independent and guided research into relevant areas of energy law and practice.
You will also draw upon substantive knowledge and skills developed in co-requisite modules.
Credits: 20
Stage 3
Core Module
As part of this module you will cover the following areas:
- Shipping and carriage, including:
-
- Gas sales and transportation agreements
- Crude sales and transportation agreements
- Pipelines and pipeline projects
- Shipping arrangements
-
- Liquefied Natural Gas case study
- Special agreements
-
- Commingling, allocation and attribution agreements
- Gas balancing agreements
- Terminalling and processing agreements
- Indicative tariff and service request agreements
- Oil and gas processing agreements
- Oil transportation agreements
- Gas transportation agreements
- Pipeline tie-in agreements
- Pipeline crossing agreements
- Proximity agreements
-
- Agreements for use of producing facilities
- Power supply agreements (perhaps in exchange for production)
- Power export agreements
- Emissions trading and CO2 Injection Agreements
- Sales contracts, including:
-
- Oil sales contracts
- Gas sales contracts
- LNG and LPG sdales contracts
-
- Production exchange agreements
- Production acreage sale and purchase and exchange agreements
- Farm-in agreements
- Asset exchange agreements
- Sale and leaseback agreements
- Sale with obligation to take back at end of production
Credits: 20
Core Module
As part of this module you will cover:
- Long-term energy agreements
- Stability mechanisms
- Enforcement Mechanisms
- Environmental Challenges
- Social Risk
- Case study: Russia vs Kazakhstan
- Limiting Foreign Investments in the Energy Sector for National Security Reasons: the Case of Japan
- Tools to manage political risks
- Distingishing between legitimate non-compensable regulation and indirect expropriation
- International law recognition of stabilization clauses
- Case studies in energy security law
- Environmental law case studies
- International environmental law
- Marine protection law
Credits: 20
Optional Module
You will engage in observation and enquiry within a workplace or industrial context. This will be complemented by in-depth independent and guided research into relevant areas of energy sustainability and security law.
You will also draw upon substantive knowledge and skills developed in co-requisite modules.
Credits: 20
- You will need to possess a good undergraduate degree in a subject relevant to postgraduate study of justice systems; OR
- Be a graduate with significant experience through work or voluntary engagement in the justice sector; OR
- Be professionally qualified to work in the justice sector at a graduate stage or above.
If you do not have the appropriate grade or relevant degree, you may still be considered by the Admissions Tutor, who will assess your suitability for this course by taking into account your industry experience, previous learning and any other information provided on your application. If your application demonstrates substantial relevant experience, the Admissions Tutor will make an offer (if all other conditions in this section are met).
If English is not your first language
You will need an English language requirement of IELTS 7.0 or above.
If there is any uncertainty over your application and the details supplied, you may be requested to undertake a telephone or online interview.
Apply Now
Applications for Online courses are made through the main University of Derby website.
By clicking on "Apply now" below you will be redirected to the University of Derby website to continue your application process.
Fees
Please contact Joanna Horsfall at Informa Professional Academy for fee information:
T: +44 (0)20 3377 3512
Further information available on the Informa Professional Academy website.
Fees description:
You can pay for this course by instalments if you are unable to pay the full fee upfront.
You can apply for this course through Informa Professional Academy.
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