You are an executive of “Canada Oil and Gas Co” a corporation engaging in Oil & Gas Exploration and Exploitation and you read in the Financial Times that the Republic of Megalonesia issued the following Press Release:
“The Government of the Republic of Megalonesia invites the submission of tenders from parties with demonstrated expertise, experience and capacity in Oil&Gas Exploration and Exploitation for Plot 1 of its EEZ”
You also read in the international press that neighboring Republic of Mesonesia is warning Megalonesia not to proceed with the relevant Tender as 20% of what is described by Megalonesia as Plot 1 forms part of Mesonesia’s EEZ.
Megalonesia and Mesonesia, have both ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 (UNCLOS) but have failed to agree to this day a delimitation of their common maritime boundary.
In the past your Company has worked with three other Oil&Gas Companies (OilCo US, UKGas and WellCo France), with very successful results, and you believe that the joining of forces by these three Companies with Canada Oil&Gas would result in a powerful bid, concentrating the necessary expertise, experience as well as adequacy of Funds for the specific venture.
However, UKGas is involved in a big litigation with Mexico which could lead to trouble for UKGas in the next 5 years and this makes you a little worried.
Prepare an Executive Brief to your Board of Directors introducing a proposal for the submission of a Bid for Plot 1 of Megalonesia. Make sure that in the said Executive Brief you:
• outline all the legal risks arising out of this venture along with possible solutions to any foreseeable problems from a Public International Law perspective;
• explain the basic features that a License Agreement between Megalonesia and your Consortium would have with reference to the most common types of similar concession agreements granted by States;
• set out the legal instrument/s that should be in place in order to secure a smooth cooperation between all participating companies in case of a successful outcome of the Tender Process including the possibility to replace UKGas at any time in the future with another company;
• analyse all available dispute resolution methods that may be utilised in your opinion across the spectrum of the relations between States or States and Companies or Companies and Companies in the matter under consideration.
YOUR EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SHOULD BE DIVIDED IN 4 DISTINCT SECTIONS AS PER THE ABOVE TOPICS AND IT SHOULD NOT EXCEED 2500 WORDS IN TOTAL. THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IS EXTREMELY BUSY AND YOUR ABILITY TO CONVEY IN A PRECISE MANNER THE POINTS OF SIGNIFICANCE THAT YOU WISH TO RAISE ON THIS VENTURE, WILL BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.
