Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

The XIIth edition of the European Energy Law Report is now available! Reference : European Energy Law Report XII, M. Roggenkamp and C. Banet (eds.) , Intersentia, Nov. 2018 ISBN 9781780686721 Description : This volume includes Chapters on Developments in EU Energy Law , Renewable Energy: Cross-border Projects and Dispute Settlement , Capacity Reserve Mechanism , Prosumers , and New Developments in the European Gas Market . Publisher's website : https://intersentia.com/en/european-energy-law-report-xii.html  

  The Oslo District Court has today, 4 January 2018 , delivered its judgment in the case concerning the validity of decision awarding oil and gas production licenses in the Arctic waters of Norway, in the Barents Sea .   What is the case about   The case is about the validity of the decision taken by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and validated by the King in Council on 10 June 2016, to award petroleum production licenses as part of the 23rd licensing round in an area close to the ice edge in the South East of the Barents Sea. This happened after that the ice edge line was moved further North and the opening of new areas int eh Barent Sea in 2013 in that region.   The plantiffs are two environmental organisations, GreenPeace Norway and Natur and Ungdom, who submitted that the decission was illegal on two grounds:   the new provision of §112 of the Norwegian Constitution (environment provision) was breached; the ...

The European Commission has published a press release on 13 March 2017 inviting comments on the commitments submitted by Gazprom in the case opened in April 2015 and which relates to the alleged  anti-competitive behaviours on the Central and Eastern European gas markets .  

The 28th European Energy Law Seminar (EELS)  will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands, on 23-24 January 2017 . The Seminar is a unique opportunity to review the latest EU energy law developments including recent legislative proposals adopted by the European Commission and at the same time discuss in detail legal developments, case law and case practice in the field with colleagues from all over Europe. So, hold the date and see you in The Hague. On the programme: Energy Union and legislative initiatives, energy market design package, impact of Brexit, recent competition cases and EU case law, revision of the renewable energy directive, cross-border infrastructures permitting and financing, evolving roles for TSOs and DSOs, capacity reserve mechanisms, prosumers, and gas supply package. The full programme and registration details will be announced shortly on the NeVER website: http://www.never.nl The seminar is co-organised...

Energy networks and their operators are facing tremendous challenges as their role diversifies and the nature and number of actors they are collaborating with change. As challenging this can be, network operators should also turn it into opportunities, which will probably include more coordination along the value chain. This leads to greater interactions between the transmission and distribution levels of the energy system . In that context, the recent position paper from the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER)  offers a timely reflection on "the Future DSO and TSO relationship " (DSO and TSO standing respectively for Distribution System Operator and Transmission System  Operator). Hereafter are summarised and commented some of the main points addressed by CEER in its paper.

Join us on Thursday 18 February for a seminar dedicated to "Current oil and gas law trends"  at the law faculty of the University of Oslo . On the programme : JOA, mature provinces, stabilization clauses, E&P rights, national oil companies, financial structure within shipping and oil industry. Detailed programme and registration : http://www.jus.uio.no/nifs/english/research/events/2016/02-18-oil-and-gas.html Time and venue : 1pm-5pm, Law faculty, University of Oslo, Kjerka room. See you there!

The European Commission has announced on 13 November 2015 the opening of two in-depth investigations to assess the conformity of two measures adopted by the French government under EU state aid rules , namely: the forthcoming national capacity mechanism , and a specific tender procedure for the construction of a gas-fired power plant in Brittany.

My latest article has been released as book chapter in SIMPLY 2014 - Scandinanvian Institute of Maritime Law. Below follow the full references: Catherine Banet, "Coexistence and interaction between offshore petroleum activities and the surrounding physical environment: area use and emissions regulation" in SIMPLY 2014, ISSN 0332-7868, pp.257-286 Summary: " The purpose of this article is to examine the manner in which offshore petroleum activities are regulated, with respect to their interaction with the surrounding environment, at two stages before petroleum products are transported and transformed to reach the market. First, it examines how the different economic, social and environmental interests related to the use of relevant sea areas are weighted against each other at the stage of opening areas for petroleum exploration. Second, it reviews the regulation of emissions from offshore petroleum activities into the environment during the production ph...

The European Commission has sent today, 22 April 2015, a Statement of Objections to Gazprom for alleged abuse of dominant position on the Central and Eastern European gas supply market, contrary to EU antitrust rules. Investigations started in September 2012 and resulted in today's decision. Gazprom has now 12 weeks to answer the Statement of Objections.   The Commission is suspecting that: " Gazprom is breaking EU antitrust rules by pursuing an overall strategy to partition Central and Eastern European gas markets, for example by reducing its customers’ ability to resell the gas cross-border. This may have enabled Gazprom to charge unfair prices in certain Member States. Gazprom may also have abused its dominant market position by making the supply of gas dependent on obtaining unrelated commitments from wholesalers concerning gas transport infrastructure ." Further comments will be published on this blog in the coming days.   By then, see the press rele...

On 19 March 2015 , the European Council reached conclusions on the strategy for the Energy Union , newly presented by the European Commission on 25 February 2015  (see previous post and comments ). The text is a broad endorsement of the general policy lines contained in the strategy, with a slightly re-arranged priority order.

  The Louisiana State University (LSU) Journal of Energy Law & Resources is organising a conference on comparative offshore oil and gas law regimes between the United Kingdom, Norway and the United States . The conference will take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA , on 12-13 March 2015 . It is structured around four topics : licensing systems , third party access to offshore infrastructure , license (lease) terms , and environmental, health and safety .   I am glad to be associated to this project and will be presenting the Norwegian licensing regime . See you in Baton Rouge?   More information on the event on the LSU website: http://www1.law.lsu.edu/cle/seminars/jelr/ And  brochure : http://host.law.lsu.edu/lsucle/15JELR.pdf    

The specially appointed Commission on Productivity ( Produktivitetskommisjonen in Norwegian) has submitted its first report to the Norwegian Finance Minister on 10 February 2015 .   The first report looks at the basis for Growth and Welfare ( Produktivitet – grunnlag for vekst og velferd   , NOU 2015:1) and covers all sectors including petroleum and energy. The full document is available here (in Norwegian).   Website of the Productivity Commission: http://produktivitetskommisjonen.no/   A thorough comment of the Commission's report will be published on this blog in the coming days.

Economic resilience to better serve energy markets and tackle climate change   In the aftermaths of a financial and budgetary crisis, faced with a slow economic recovery and forced to respond quickly to geopolitical and natural resources challenges of global character, the representatives from governments and central banks of the Group of the Twenty major economies (so-called G20 ) decided to put "resilience" at the heart of their action during their last meeting in Australia, 15-16 November 2014 .  " Strengthening the resilience of the global economy and stability of the financial system are crucial to sustaining growth and development ." (para. 12)  " Strong and resilient energy markets are critical to economic growth. " (para. 17) We should better get used to the concept of resilience , because it is now used extensively, lately by the newly appointed European Commission ( " resilient energy union with a forward-looking climate ch...

    On 13 November 2014, media reported that EU Member States and the European Commission decided not to follow-up the proposal consisting in establishing a mandatory gas-purchasing body at EU level . This was confirmed by K.D. Borchardt, European Commission's director in charge of the internal energy market. The idea was proposed as part of the concept for Energy Union ahead of an EU summit on EU energy dependence in June. It was promoted by Donald Tusk, former Polish PM and forthcoming president of the European Council, but also relayed by the European Commission in its May 2014 Communication on a European Energy Security Strategy .   In a comment, I referred to the idea as an "EU contradiction" . After receiving questions on that qualification, I hereafter give the reasons why.  

Late in the night came the news of an agreement between the EU heads of state and government on a new climate and energy framework for 2030 . A need for mid-term commitments An agreement on post-2020 EU climate and energy strategy was deemed necessary in order to ensure predictability for energy technology investors, developers and industrial operators as regards mid-term commitments. Indeed, the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC may foresee a post-2020 roadmap in 2018, stakeholders have been repeatedly asking for clarification as to the situation after 2020 as soon as possible. 

    På Påskeferie i Oslo , og letter etter faglig påfyll for hele familien? Jeg anbefaler å ta seg en tur til Teknisk Museum, på Kjelsås, hvor man kan får med seg to faste utstillinger: Olje og Gass , rett ved siden av Energi og Elektrisitet .   If you are spending the Easter break in Oslo , and are eager to get some energy-related activities for all the family, I strongly recommend to visit the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology , at Kjelsås (north of Oslo), where you can discover two permanent exhibitions: Oil and gass , next to Energy and Electricity . All explanations in Norwegian and English.   Website: http://www.tekniskmuseum.no/  

Commission Regulation (EU) No 312/2014 of 26 March 2014 establishing a Network Code on Gas Balancing of Transmission Network has been published in the EU Official Journal (OJEU L 91 of 27.03.2014, p.15). The text of the regulatuin is available on EUR-Lex.   The Commission Regulation will rapidly be commented on this blog.

Hereafter are reproduced the parts of the State of the Union Speech hold by U.S. president Obama on 28 January 2014 which are related to energy and climate change issues.        

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has released a new map of the Norwegian Continental Shelf updated as of 21 June 2013 . The map includes all production licenses, name of the operators, transport system by type of fuel (oil, gas, oil and gas, condensate). The NPD has also released maps by sectors: The Barents Sea, The Norwegian Sea and the North Sea.  All maps available at:  http://www.npd.no/en/Maps/Map-of-the-NCS/  

Statoil announced on 13 June 2013 that the company just concluded a 15-year contract for the supply of natural gas to the 600 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant owned by Stadtwerke Düsseldorf , with delivery starting in 2016. Viewed from a Norwegian and supplier perspective, one innovation of this contract is the indexation of the gas price to spot gas market . This has become a more common practice in the UK (e.g., through Britain's National Balancing Point) and to a certain extend in The Netherlands, but not yet in the most majority of the gas supply contracts, as the European Commission would have wished and called upon. So Norway is following the trend. In that, " the agreement builds on the liberalising gas, power and emissions markets and the available market price indices ." In other words, " it represents a new type of partnership in the German gas-to-power market ". See press release from Statoil (13.06.2013). Another important aspec...