Ocean Law and Offshore Energy Law

English
TEM 0078
7.5 Credits

Introduction

Please note that this is a preliminary course description. The final version will be published in June 2027.

Covering around 70% of the Earth’s surface, the Ocean has long been a powerful source of global growth. The Ocean provides food and energy security for billions of people and serves as the main mode of transportation for global trade. At the same time, climate change and overexploitation of ocean resources have put the Ocean under significant pressure. Regulations have tightened up and challenges for industry emerged. The unprecedented and increasing importance of offshore energy in the green shift adds new complexity and increases the need for a holistic understanding and regulatory regime.

Legal expertise in topics relevant to ocean law and policy is in constant demand. This course aims at providing deeper understanding of the legal complexities surrounding ocean business in both international, European and Norwegian/Nordic context, with particular focus on offshore energy.

Part I examines ocean law and policy in general terms and provides a broad understanding of the relevant international legal and policy framework. It explains the legal challenges caused by the global nature of ocean activities and competition for ocean space among different types of ocean businesses (oil and gas drilling, shipping, offshore wind, pharmaceutical business, fisheries etc). Part I further examines the main rights and obligations of States and the role of international institutions in reconciling the need for economic growth on the one hand with the demand for green transition on the other hand.

Part II goes into more concrete legal and regulatory challenges in the context of climate change and security risks and examines the interplay between public law and private law. In the context of climate change, Part II mainly focuses on the European Union (EU) law. It explores different regulatory and policy mechanisms through which the EU is fostering green transition, while maintaining competitiveness on the market. It examines various market-based measures (MBM) for ocean energy efficiency, emission trading and carbon capture usage and storage, and discusses thereto related issues in contract law, including distribution of risks, liability and costs. Part II concludes with security issues by examining the key legal and regulatory challenges with protection of critical ocean infrastructure, including energy infrastructure, from physical, cyber and hybrid attacks.

Part III switches to the national law side. This part builds on the knowledge and understanding gained through Part I and Part II and brings to its focus one specific type of ocean business, namely offshore energy, in the Norwegian context. In this regard, Part III provides an understanding of the Norwegian legal and policy framework, the licensing regime and various issues in contract law.

Course content

In Part I, the primary objective is to analyze the relevant provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and a suite of other relevant global treaties and instruments to set the scene for understanding ocean law and policy in broad terms. Law and policy papers are discussed to draw attention to current and future regulatory trends and challenges, such as the increased digitalization and technological developments and the need for emission reduction. Special attention is given to addressing regulatory gaps, and challenges arising therefrom.

Part II concentrates on two specific challenges, i.e., climate change and security risks. In this regard, different ocean law and policy frameworks are examined, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the climate change regime, the European “Green Deal”, “Fit for 55” package, and Emission Trading System.

Further, the need for international coordination globally and at EU level is addressed in general and in particular with regard to the development of offshore energy in a grid-based system. The European electricity market is highly interconnected and development of large scale offshore energy production must take place within this physical and regulatory context.

Part III focuses on national (Norwegian) law – including the relevant parts of EEA legislation. National ocean law matters (in the context of international law outlined in Part I) will be dealt with. Further, the course will include an overview of the regulatory regime applicable to the oil and gas sector. This is a long-standing regime which illustrates the national law headroom within the international ocean law system.

Finally, the Norwegian regulatory regime for development of offshore renewable energy will be analyzed. The Norwegian government has set at target to allocate areas for development 30.000 MW offshore wind within 2040. Although the actual production is still in an early stage, a regulatory framework has been in place since 2010 and is continually developing. Hereunder, the interplay of public law (licensing regime etc) and private law (contracts between developers and the authorities) will be analyzed. This national law part will build on, and deepen, the EU law issues dealt with in Part II relevant for offshore energy development.

Business ethics and sustainability issues are integrated into the course.

Disclaimer

This is an excerpt from the complete course description for the course. If you are an active student at BI, you can find the complete course descriptions with information on eg. learning goals, learning process, curriculum and exam at portal.bi.no. We reserve the right to make changes to this description.