2016 ASIL annual meeting panel on ‘Treaties on Transit of Energy via Pipelines’

On 31 March 2016, Dr Danae Azaria moderated the panel ‘Energy on the Move: Treaties on Transit of Energy via Pipelines’ in the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Lawinspired by her recent monograph ‘Treaties on Transit of Energy via Pipelines’ (OUP 2015).

Today states attach to pipelines the same importance they attached in the past to rivers and international canals. International law has recently witnessed a proliferation of treaties in this area. The WTO Agreement, the Energy Charter Treaty, NAFTA and bespoke pipeline treaties around the world establish obligations concerning energy transit via pipelines. Despite this ‘treatification’, numerous international disputes in the twenty-first century have involved the suspension of exports or transit of energy via pipelines. The panel discussion touched on the emerging treaty practice governing the transit of energy via pipelines by reference to real case studies (e.g. Russia, Ukraine, EU; South Sudan, Sudan; Keystone XL) grounding the discussion in the law of state responsibility, in particular countermeasures, and placing it against the background of pressing and often opposing interests of states in energy security, but also environmental and other considerations.

The speakers were Gabrielle Marceau (Legal Counsel, WTO), Matthew Weiniger QC (Partner, Linklaters), Matthew Kronby (Partner, Bennett Jones).

You can watch the panel discussion on the ASIL website or here.