By April Kent

At the beginning of October, Iranian Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi invited foreign investors to help develop its oil fields and improve pipeline and refinery infrastructure in the country. This past Friday, Reuters has reported that the U.S. State Department recently cabled a “demarche” to embassies around the world to reiterate that sanctions on Iran are still in place and will not be lifted until the International Atomic Energy Agency verifies compliance with the terms of the Iran Nuclear Deal. The U.S. wants to prevent a rush by Western companies to invest in Iran’s oil industry and other businesses. European oil executives from Royal Dutch Shell and Eni have already been sending small teams to Iran to meet with Iran’s oil minister about potential opportunities. American companies, on the other hand, face tighter restrictions: the Iran Nuclear Deal does not include easing many of the sanctions that have prevented U.S. companies themselves from doing business in Iran.

Read More

October 16, 2015

By Abbie Schepps

The U.S., Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Iceland are all laying claim to an area of the arctic. Rich in oil and holding 30% of the Earth’s natural gas, the countries are engaged in a massive territorial dispute. The real appeal is that the melting ice, vanishing at 13% a decade, is expected to make drilling, mining and shipping easier. In order to claim a portion of the arctic, the countries are going to have to show an extension of their continental shelf, a “hugely expensive and complicated” task. Though Norway is the only nation to have its claim for a portion approved, Canada is currently scrambling to defend its territory. Canada claims this is a sovereign Canadian waterway and not an international waterway. With the arctic ice melting rapidly, there is at least an understanding that these countries are better off cooperating.

Read More

September 16, 2015

By Catherine Kent

On April 6, 2015, The National reported that due to a preliminary deal last week between the United States and Iran, oil prices have bounced back. The world benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil futures are trading up 2.7% from the close of the previous day, at $56.47.  While a deal was reached, it was not the final deal, and both parties also agree that this is just the first step down a long road. The plan is for the sanctions to be lifted slowly in congruence with Iran’s meeting certain milestones within the agreement. This bounce-back in oil prices might be short-lived as, Iran has 700,000 barrels per day of spare capacity that it has not been able to sell since the sanctions were put in place.

Read More

April 21, 2015

By Stephen Levy

A subsidiary of Schlumberger reached a record-breaking settlement with the Department of Justice due to its violations of U.S. sanctions and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, reported The Wall Street Journal. The plea deal, released on March 24^th, requires Schlumberger to pay $155.1 million dollars for violating the sanctions, a record fine for violating U.S. sanctions, as well as surrendering $77.6 million in profits. Schlumberger, the largest oil services company in the world, was accused by DOJ of exporting drilling equipment to Iran and Sudan, both oil-producing countries sanctioned by the United States. In particular, Schlumberger had relied on its non-U.S. registration to export goods to the sanctioned countries, but had American employees work on the exports. The settlement will potentially end a long investigation for the DOJ, who have pursued similar actions against Commerzbank, HSBC, Barclays, BNP Paribas, and Standard Chartered.

Read More

April 09, 2015

By Catherine Kent

On Monday, Britain’s High Court referred the case of a Russian state-controlled oil group, Rosneft, to the European Court of Justice. Rosneft brought the case against the EU and argued that the sanctions against them by the EU were invalid under a 1994 partnership and co-operation agreement between the EU and Russia. Additionally, Rosneft argues that the sanctions legislation is so unclear and uncertain that they violate general principles of law and the principle of legal certainty. The High Court decided that because the points raised by Rosneft were “at least arguable”, they should be referred to European Court of Justice.   

Read More

February 25, 2015

By Catherine Kent

NITC, Iran’s main oil tanker firm, has been on and off the EU’s blacklist.  With the EU to put NITC back unto the blacklist, NITC sought an urgent injunction on Friday to compel Britain to veto against EU decision. The High Court denied NITC the injunction on Monday, finding merit with Britain’s arguments that a British veto would detract from London’s reliability on the Iranian nuclear issue.

Read More

February 24, 2015

By Stephen Levy

Iran has been selling crude oil furtively to dodge U.S. and EU sanctions, Reuters reports, as the U.S. considers more sanctions. In alliance with Emirati companies, Iran has been disguising its crude oil by mixing it with other fuels, distributing at distant locations, and even using false documents. In a sign of the relative effectiveness of the sanctions, however, few large companies and traders have participated in those efforts, and Iran has had to sell the fuel at a significant discount. The U.S. has confirmed that it is investigating with the Emirati government, but it remains to be seen if any traders will be sanctioned. The sanctions have served better as a deterrent than a punishment, and if the U.S. views the negotiations as close to ending, it might consider moderating its response.

Read More

February 13, 2015

By Professor Harry Sachse, Partner, Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson and Perry, LLP, Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Deep Oil often comes up accompanied by highly toxic water. In the United States, producers are required by state and federal laws to drill “disposal wells” and pump the toxic water back into the formation it came from, where it hurts no one and even aids production.

In 1967, Texaco and its Ecuadorian partners made a major oil discovery in the Amazon in Ecuador near the Columbian border, in an area where the Sarayaku indigenous people live.  There was no law in Ecuador requiring it to drill disposal wells, so Texaco simply dumped the water in the local rivers. The result was high cancer rates and miscarriages, amounting the destruction of village life for the Sarayaku.

An Ecuadorian lawyer, not trusting Ecuadorian courts and feeling that the United States should hold its companies to some minimal standard when they do business abroad, sued Chevron, which by then had bought Texaco in federal court. The court held it had no jurisdiction over Chevrons’ actions abroad. But should not the United States require some standards of decency for American corporation operating abroad?

Read More

December 10, 2014

By Abraham Shanedling

As Iranian President Hassan Rouhani joins world leaders this week at the United Nations General Assembly, new discussion has surfaced over a possible deal to end financial sanctions on Iran in exchange for the regime curbing its nuclear enrichment program.

In an interview last week, reported in the New York Times, a prominent adviser to the Iranian leadership said the possible deal stemmed from a private letter sent three weeks ago from President Barack Obama to Rouhani, Iran’s new president. Although the text of the letter has remained private, the adviser said it promised relief from sanctions if Tehran demonstrated a willingness to “cooperate with the international community, keep your commitments and remove ambiguities.”

American official say that Obama has not promised any quick relief to Iran and has avoided any detailed proposals of a plan. However, this was the first time Obama has written directly to an Iranian president – and not Ayatolla Khamenei – suggesting, as some have argued, that the ayatollah has given Rouhani the authority to seek a deal with the West.

As a further sign of a possible thawing of relations between Iran and the West, the Daily Mail is reporting that Britain could be close to agreeing to a deal easing sanctions that have halted gas production from the North Sea’s Rhum field, jointly owned by BP and the National Iranian Oil Co. The gas field, which has been frozen as a result of U.S. and EU sanctions for the last three years, previously supplied five percent of Britain’s gas output.

Read More

September 24, 2013