Petroleum Law

The lawyers with expertise in petroleum law assist Norwegian and foreign authorities, private- and state-owned companies, and international organizations.

The legal experts tackling legal issues associated with the development, implementation, dispute resolution and enforcement of legislation and petroleum regulatory frameworks, preparation and implementation of exclusive rights or infrastructure projects, or the transfer of rights through licensing or bid-rounds, direct negotiation, conclusion of agreements or awards of licences, contracts and granting of operational permits, approvals and consents.

Advice is provided on legal and regulatory matters relevant to the exploration for and discovery of petroleum deposits, the financing, development, operation and use of facilities necessary for the extraction, production, transport and transhipment by vessel, craft or pipeline of crude oil and natural gas, including and LNG. In some cases legal issues associated with the transmission, distribution or the exploitation of petroleum.

Over the last decade, SVW lawyers have been key contributors in the development of all or substantial parts of the petroleum law, licensing or contract framework in several countries on three continents subject to various legal traditions. The assistance encompasses frameworks for the allocation and exercise of exclusive rights to search for, develop, extract and when relevant utilization of petroleum deposits, transport, shipment or export of oil and gas by vessels or through pipelines.

The Petroleum lawyers regularly assist public authorities, international organisations and companies on maritime law issues related to customary public international law, conventions and bilateral treaties related to land and maritime boundaries and cross-border projects, related facilities and petroleum activities such as joint development, unitisation or multi-jurisdictional projects, including submarine cables and -pipelines.