Treaties on transit of energy via pipelines and countermeasures

Chair

Professor Philippe Sands QC (University College London)

Speakers

Professor Catherine Redgwell (University of Oxford)
Gabrielle Marceau (Legal Counsel, WTO)
Graham Coop (Volterra Fietta; Former Counsel, Energy Charter Secretariat)

Author

Dr Danae Azaria (University College London)

About this event

Today states attach to pipelines the importance they attached to rivers in the nineteenth century, and to international canals since the nineteenth century.

International law has, throughout the last century, witnessed a proliferation of treaties in this area. Despite the ‘treatification’, numerous international disputes in the twenty-first century have involved the suspension of exports or transit of energy via pipelines.

Treaties on Transit of Energy via Pipelines and Countermeasures analyses the obligations governing energy transit through pipelines in multilateral and bilateral treaties, looking at the WTO Agreement, the Energy Charter Treaty, and sixteen bespoke pipeline treaties. It argues that a number of transit obligations under these treaties are indivisible, reflecting the collective interests of states parties.

After setting out the content and scope of obligations concerning transit of energy, it distinguishes countermeasures from treaty law responses, and examines the dispute settlement and compliance supervision provisions in these treaties.

Building on these findings, the work discusses the availability and lawfulness of countermeasures as, on the one hand, a means of implementing the transit state’s responsibility for interruptions of energy transit via pipelines; and, on the other hand, circumstances that preclude the wrongfulness of the transit state’s interruptions of transit.

These issues lie at the heart of the energy security concerns of states, and have given rise to a number of disputes, making the question about the relationship between countermeasures and transit pipelines one of the most essential in modern international energy law. The launch of Danae Azaria’s new book, Treaties on Transit of Energy via Pipelines and Countermeasures (OUP, 2015) offers a platform to debate and better understand the issues that arise in this area.

Sponsor

This event is part-sponsored by the Oxford University Press