Energy Law: Hydrocarbons, Renewables and Energy Markets - Bachelor

Energy is essential for all aspects of life in a modern society and the need for energy is growing. Energy production from fossil sources (like coal, oil and gas) is also one of the main drivers of climate change, and great efforts are made to bring about a shift from energy production based on fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, in order to stop or at least limit climate change.

Energy law is an important discipline as energy production and distribution is pivotal to the functioning of the society and economic and social development. All major countries have in the last decades reformed their energy legislation due to the influence of energy liberalization, climate change and the introduction of renewable energy solutions. Taking part of this course will give you the tools to understand the complex regulatory challenges that energy law has to deal with and prepare you for exciting job prospects.

The general question that the course seeks to answer is how legal regulation can contribute to an effective and sufficient energy production and consumption within sustainable limits. The course will present the main legal principles, systems and instruments used to influence energy production and consumption. Further, the course will give insight in basic principles for resource management, the relation between public interest and business and modern market instruments.

The course is divided into two parts. The first part will cover governance and regulation of hydrocarbons (oil and gas activities). The second part will be focused on the regulation of electricity and renewable energy in EU/EEA law.

Our study of energy law will follow the life cycle and energy value chain. During our course, we will study how energy production/extraction, transportation and consumption is regulated and the consequences of such rules for society, the industry and nature.

A central part of the system for governance of the energy sector is the regulation of access to energy resources on land as well as offshore. As offshore energy production is becoming more important for petroleum as well as renewable ocean and wind energy, the regulation of continental shelf and exclusive economic zone will be important, as well as environmental regulation of the oceans (OSPAR-treaty etc.). The question of jurisdiction over and ownership of energy resources especially on the continental shelf is thus an important part of the course.

The system for granting access to the petroleum and other energy resources for national and international companies, through different concession, licensing and contracting systems, and for organizing the State participation in the activity, is an important part of the course. This involves national as well as EU-regulation and will give the students understanding of the relation between EU/EEA law and national law. The license system and the use of joint venture agreements to secure state control as well as effective and secure activity, constitute examples of different techniques for governance of an important industry.

In the second part of the course, we will focus on the regulation of energy in the EU, by utilizing the regime of electricity (and some extent gas) as a case study. Generation, transport, distribution and retailing of electricity systems according to the EU/EEA Directives and Regulations will be studied. This includes rules related to the functioning of the internal electricity market, rules on the use of infrastructure to transport energy, as well as those provisions related to consumer rights, duties and their protection.

The course will concentrate on basic principles and regulation systems. Central themes are:

• Introduction to energy law & energy policy
• Energy resources: ownership and management
• Licensing systems for energy production
• Upstream regulation of petroleum
• European regulation of electricity and gas: production, transmission and distribution
• Organization and functioning of energy markets
• European regulation of renewable energy sources
• Energy consumers: rights, duties and new roles
• Energy regulators: ACER and national entities

At the end of the course, students will have:

• Gained a good overall knowledge related to the fundamental problems, concepts and principles of energy law;
• Understanding of the concepts of licensing, access to energy sources, safety and environmental aspects related to energy and the functioning of energy markets;
• Familiarity with the regulatory models utilized for the exploitation of hydrocarbons, particularly in the North Sea/Norway;
• The ability to identify key regulatory and legal issues connected to the generation, transport, distribution and retailing of electricity in Europe;
• The capability to critically discuss the rules applicable to foster the development of renewable energy sources;
• Practiced and learnt how to write a legal brief/legal opinion on a topic of energy regulation, thanks to the use of a home exam;
• The ability to cooperate with law students from other countries, and gain perspectives on common legal challenges from students from a legal background different than their own
• The ability to contribute with perspectives from their own country and legal background.
  

Students will also have developed certain skills and general competence, including:

• The ability to understand and engage with doctrinal, policy, and theoretical sources of different types, and to use those sources to present scholarly arguments in the fields covered by the course;
• The ability to apply academic knowledge and relevant work to practical and theoretical problems in the fields of energy regulation, and to make well-founded choices between different legal and policy alternatives;
• The ability to find, evaluate, and refer to information and scholarly ideas and to present them in an appropriate written manner;
• The ability to explain how electricity markets work;
• The ability to engage in debates and write reasoned responses to questions on legal and policy issues in the field of energy law;
• The ability to analyze and answer practical legal problems in the energy sector
• The ability to present and evaluate legal analyses and points of view in English, both orally and in writing