The Law Of The Sea And Maritime Boundary Disputes In Areas Of Hydrocarbon Potential

"The United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea ('UNCLOS') is hailed as one of the most significant multilateral legal agreements executed in the past few decades. However, its shortcomings are neither trivial nor inconsequential, especially regarding maritime boundary disputes involving hydrocarbon resources. This monograph examines the relationship between UNCLOS and maritime boundaries in five non-polar regions, encompassing almost 90% of global unresolved disputes involving offshore hydrocarbon development. The regions, which include the eastern Mediterranean, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, northeast Asia, and the South China Sea, were chosen for their oil and gas resources potential and recent military skirmishes that have the potential to lead to wider regional confrontations. The book addresses each region's maritime boundary status in the context of specific articles within UNCLOS that have been exploited by disputing states to justify their overlapping claims. The history and future applicability of multilateral Joint Development Area agreements for each region are evaluated for their potential to provide a cooperative solution to resolve ongoing tensions. Highlighting the limitations of current 'gun-boat' diplomacy, the monograph makes practical suggestions for new paradigms for resolving outstanding disputes, promoting lasting peace and generating economic benefits resulting from resource development"--

A surprising number of maritime boundaries remain unresolved, and a range of reasons can be cited to explain why the process of delimiting these boundaries has been so slow. This volume addresses and analyzes some of these reasons, focusing on some of the volatile disputes in Northeast Asia and in North America. Scholars from Asia, the United States, and Europe grapple with festering controversies and apply insights gained from resolved disputes to those that remain unresolved. Islands continue to haunt this process, and the way in which they should affect maritime boundaries remains in dispute. The United States has a number of disputed boundaries with its neighbors to the north and south, and these are examined. Antarctica is a concern of all nations, and the regimes governing the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica are analyzed. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was created to allow countries to resolve their disputes peacefully, and two chapters look at how this new court is operating. The impact of sea-level rise on maritime boundaries is given special attention in the opening chapter. This volume presents a wonderful collection of provocative chapters written by the top scholars in the field of International Ocean Law. It should help scholars, students, and decision makers to understand the current state of this field and to move some of the difficult disputes toward resolution.

This book provides a user-friendly and practical guide to the modern law of maritime boundary delimitation. The law of maritime boundaries has seen substantial evolution in recent decades. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the law in this field, and its development through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which set out the framework of the modern law in 1982. The Convention itself has since been substantially built upon and clarified by a series of judicial and arbitral decisions in boundary disputes between sovereign states, which themselves also built upon earlier case law. The book dissects each of the leading international judgments and awards since the North Sea Continental Shelf Cases in 1969, providing a full analysis of the issues and context in each case, explaining their fundamental importance to shaping the law. The book provides over forty clear technical illustrations prepared by Robin Cleverly, one of the leading technical experts in international dispute resolution, to carefully demonstrate the key issues at stake in this complex area of law. Technological developments in the exploitation of maritime natural resources (including oil and gas) have provided a significant impetus for recent boundary disputes, as they have made the resources found in remote areas of the ocean and seabed more accessible. However, these resources cannot effectively be exploited at the moment, as hundreds of maritime boundaries worldwide remain undelimited. The book therefore complements the legal considerations raised with substantial technical input. It also identifies key issues in maritime delimitation which have yet to be resolved, and sets out the possible future direction the law may take in resolving them. It will be an unique and valuable resource for lawyers involved in cases involving maritime delimitation, and scholars and students of the law of the sea.

'The book has been written by many highly qualified observers and academicians that have spent a lot of time observing and analyzing the recent developments in the South China Sea, particularly those relating to the dispute and way of overcoming them. I do hope that this publication will throw some light on such important matters and indicate possible roads to follow in solving the territorial disputes through joint development concept.' Hasjim Djalal, Director of Southeast Asian Studies, Jakarta, Indonesia This highly informative and up-to-date book brings together expert scholars in law of the sea to explore the legal and geopolitical aspects of the South China Sea disputes and provide an in-depth examination on the prospects of joint development in the South China Sea. The South China Sea has long been regarded as a source of conflict and tension in Asia. Underlying this conflict is the dispute between China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei over the features in the South China Sea, as well as the resources in the surrounding waters. One viable solution is for the claimants to set aside their claims and jointly develop the hydrocarbon resources in the South China Sea. Unlike previous works, this book takes a unique approach by examining existing joint development arrangements in Asia to see if there are any 'lessons learnt' that may be applicable to the South China Sea. This approach has enabled the editors to move beyond a mere theoretical discussion on joint development and focus on the law, policy and practical issues related to joint development. Beyond Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea will strongly appeal to Government officials, policy-makers from ASEAN Countries, China and the United States, as well as academics, particularly those who are involved in legal scholarship on the South China Sea disputes. Practitioners of oil and gas law will also find much to benefit them in this book.

This book examines the concept and purpose of joint development agreements of offshore hydrocarbon deposits from the perspective of public international law and the law of the sea, taking into consideration and extensively reviewing State practice concerning seabed activities in disputed maritime areas and when hydrocarbon deposits extend across maritime boundaries. It distinguishes between agreements signed before and after the delimitation of maritime boundaries and analyzes the relevance of natural resources or unitization clauses included in maritime delimitation agreements. It also takes into consideration the relation between these resources and maritime delimitation and analyzes all the relevant international jurisprudence. Another innovative aspect of this book is that it examines the possibility of joint development of resources that lay between the continental shelf and the Area, considering both theoretical and practical problems. As such, the book is a useful tool for scholars and experts on public international law and the law of the sea, but also for national authorities and practitioners of international disputes resolution, as well as public and private entities working in the oil and gas industry.

The settlement of the maritime boundary disputes between China and Japan in the East China Sea, and between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea, is politically deadlocked. While diplomatic settlement efforts have been ongoing for the past several decades, neither side in each case appears prepared to back down from its respective maritime and territorial claims. Several incidents at sea have occurred, prompting diplomatic protests, military standoffs, even exchange of fire. The existing status quo is inherently unstable and does not favour either side to the extent that it holds hostage the multiple benefits that could otherwise be generated from the exploitation of the seabed energy and mineral resources in the disputed waters, creating an urgent need for a meaningful discussion on finding a practical way forward. This monograph undertakes a comprehensive analysis of these disputes based on the rules and principles of international law, critically evaluating possible institutional designs of inter-State cooperation over seabed activities in disputed maritime areas and makes recommendations for the prospect of realising joint development regimes in the East China Sea and the Aegean to coordinate the exploration for and exploitation of resources without having resorted previously to boundary delimitation settlement.

The Limits of Maritime Jurisdiction, edited by Clive Schofield, Seokwoo Lee, and Moon-Sang Kwon, comprises 36 chapters by leading oceans scholars and practitioners devoted to both the definition of maritime limits and boundaries spatially and the limits of jurisdictional rights within claimed maritime zones. Contributions address conflicting maritime claims and boundary disputes, access to valuable marine resources, protecting the marine environment, maritime security and combating piracy, concerns over expanding activities and jurisdiction in Polar waters and the impact of climate change on the oceans, including the potential impact of sea level rise on the scope of claims to maritime zones. The volume therefore offers critical analysis on a range of important and frequently increasingly pressing contemporary law of the sea issues.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (‘UNCLOS’) is hailed as one of the most significant multilateral legal agreements executed in the past few decades. However, its shortcomings are neither trivial nor inconsequential, especially regarding maritime boundary disputes involving hydrocarbon resources. This monograph examines the relationship between UNCLOS and maritime boundaries in five non-polar regions, encompassing almost 90% of global unresolved disputes involving offshore hydrocarbon development. The regions, which include the eastern Mediterranean, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, northeast Asia, and the South China Sea, were chosen for their oil and gas resources potential and recent military skirmishes that have the potential to lead to wider regional confrontations. The book addresses each region’s maritime boundary status in the context of specific articles within UNCLOS that have been exploited by disputing states to justify their overlapping claims. The history and future applicability of multilateral Joint Development Area agreements for each region are evaluated for their potential to provide a cooperative solution to resolve ongoing tensions. Highlighting the limitations of current ‘gun-boat’ diplomacy, the monograph makes practical suggestions for new paradigms for resolving outstanding disputes, promoting lasting peace and generating economic benefits resulting from resource development.

This book explores the delicate interconnections between law and economics, especially as regards island entitlements under international maritime law. This is an area in the literature generally overlooked because maritime law has been the domain of legal experts. Maritime boundary disputes are over resources, a vitally important economic subject. Yet, the economics of maritime law has been ignored. Lawyers and legal experts have dominated the field, to the alarming degree of causing needless international conflicts. Our monograph addresses this serious neglect. The methodology would be rational behavior model, one specifically formulated to make the case that dialog and negotiation between these countries is the rational choice leading to win-win outcome in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean territorial waters. Public and private sector actors identified as key decision-makers in all phases of hydrocarbon development and monetization, within an overall win-win framework.

This two-part study examines the law governing maritime boundaries and their delimitation, with special attention being paid to the situation in the Mediterranean Sea. The first part of the work looks at the general principles of international law which operate in relation to maritime boundaries and attempts to elucidate a set of substantive rules of law which can be applied in all cases. The second part applies these rules to a number of important and problematic episodes involving boundary disputes in the Mediterranean Sea, in particular those which have centered upon enclosed and semi-enclosed areas. The work will be of particular value to lawyers concerned with law of the sea disputes especially those with a keen interest in the outcome of outstanding problems in the Mediterranean.