Joint Operating Agreements

Historically oil and gas upstream activities were developed in common law jurisdictions. In the same manner the first model form of Joint Operating Agreements (JOAs) was developed in 1956 by the American Association of Professional Landmen. This historical model form provided the industry with guidance for future generations of JOAs.

Although the JOAs were initially used in common law jurisdictions (US, Canada, UK, etc.) later on it was used in civil law jurisdictions throughout South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. There is no JOA model available in the industry to address all of the requirements from a large variety of civil law perspectives. The Norwegian and Greenlandic authorities offer their own JOA models, which are suitable within these jurisdictions. The AIPN JOA model form 2012 issued a short guidance note for civil law issues. Although this initiative was very much welcomed by the industry, it was not possible to provide extensive guidance on every detail and provide advice on exactly what your JOA provisions should look like at the very end. Therefore, the main issue for the petroleum industry is the fact that large upstream investments could be done based on a contract that might not be enforceable in a civil law jurisdiction.

This book analyses the main issues that a JOA might face within seventeen civil jurisdictions with large oil and gas reserves or at least large potential (including but not limited to Angola, Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Holland, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mozambique, Norway, Russia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, etc.). It is a unique and valuable publication for practitioners, legal counsel, businessmen, and academics involved in the upstream industry around the world.