Oil and gas contracts are shaped by national and international laws that relate to common industry transactions. With standardised contracts being used across different jurisdictions, it is important that these legal principles are properly understood. The increasing scarcity of natural resources makes it more, rather than less, likely that legal issues will be tested in the oil and gas sector. This new title seeks to explore industry issues using a new approach. It includes comprehensive commentaries on topics in the oil industry and links these with edited extracts from underlying legal texts. The reader benefits from the combination of both a full analysis of key legal issues and selected passages of text from legal sources. Taking exploration and production in the United Kingdom as its subject matter, the book also cites other jurisdictions by way of comparative study and on issues where the United Kingdom lacks decided case law. It also sets out the various international conventions and European laws which directly or indirectly form the basis of UK law and government practice and policy. Chapters cover exclusive licences, joint operating agreements, unitisation agreements and gas sales agreements. The book also analyses issues such as ownership of petroleum, the law of capture, rights of exploitation, the legal nature of exclusive licences, decommissioning, investor protection and human rights based on the principal legal obligations of parties and governments. Author Marc Hammerson is a partner in the energy group at Stephenson Harwood, specialising in corporate and project work in the oil and gas and power industries. He has extensive experience advising energy majors and independent energy companies on upstream and downstream oil and gas and power.