Rutgers Law

601:705. Oil & Gas Development and the Environment (2)

Professor Tim West

The course will introduce key aspects of the common law, contracts and statutory framework used to explore for and produce oil and gas in the U.S. and internationally. It will cover the Rule of Capture, the typical oil and gas lease on private lands, State oil and gas conservation regulation, leasing practices on U. S. public lands, an overview of U. S. environmental regulation of oil and gas, especially hydraulic fracturing issues, and the basic principles of rate regulation and public utilities governing natural gas. The course will then look at the acquisition of host government oil and gas development contracts from foreign governments and the treatment of best practices, sustainable development and social issues, including human rights, when operating abroad. This is a unique opportunity to take a law course which cuts across several core law-school subjects and from the perspective of a particular business –oil and gas, a business that deals with the most widely traded and strategically important commodity.

Last updated April 21, 2015.