Civil Liability and Financial Security for Offshore Oil and Gas Activities

Michael Faure is Professor of Comparative Private Law and Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Professor of Comparative and International Environmental Law at Maastricht University. He also serves as Academic Director of the Maastricht European Institute for Transnational Legal Research (METRO).

List of abbreviations; Contributors; List of figures and tables; 1. Introduction Michael Faure, Niels Philipsen and Hui Wang: 1.1 Background for this book; 1.2 Objective of this book; 1.3 Methodology; 1.4 Structure; 2. Offshore-related damage: facts and figures Kristel De Smedt and Hui Wang: 2.1 General issues concerning offshore activities; 2.2 Location of installations and facilities in the EU; 2.3 Overview of major offshore accidents; 2.4 Analysis of recent offshore accidents in Europe: case studies; 2.5 Analysis of recent offshore accidents outside EU waters; 3. Analysis of existing legal regimes Michael Faure, Jing Liu and Hui Wang: 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 International legal framework; 3.3 Offshore liability regimes; 3.4 The current EU regime on offshore activities; 3.5 Offshore liability regimes: country studies; 3.6 Another high risk sector: the nuclear; 3.7 Concluding observations; 4. Pooling mechanisms for offshore liability Michael Faure and Jing Liu: 4.1 Theory: pooling versus insurance; 4.2 OPOL; 4.3 OIL and OCIL; 4.4 Protection and indemnity clubs; 4.5 Risk pooling in the nuclear sector; 4.6 Concluding observations; 5. The use of financial market instruments to cover liability following a major offshore accident Michael Faure and Hui Wang: 5.1 Self-insurance; 5.2 Capital market; 5.3 Guarantees; 5.4 (Re-) insurance; 5.5 Risk pooling schemes; 5.6 OPOL; 5.7 Combinations; 6. Potential of financial and insurance instruments to cover liability following a major offshore accident Michael Faure and Hui Wang: 6.1 Potential costs of an offshore incident; 6.2 Self-guarantee through tax; 6.3 Expanding possibility of insurance?; 6.4 Potential of expanding risk pooling schemes; 6.5 Summary: flexibility; 7. Toward optimal liability and compensation for offshore oil and gas activities Kristel De Smedt, Hui Wang and Michael Faure: 7.1 Principles of efficient compensation and liability rules; 7.2 Efficient liability rules; 7.3 Liability versus regulation; 7.4 Mandatory financial security; 7.5 Compensation instrument; 7.6 Rapid claims management; 7.7 Transboundary harm; 7.8 Scenarios; 8. Concluding remarks Michael Faure, Niels Philipsen and Hui Wang: 8.1 General; 8.2 Efficient liability rules; 8.3 Mandatory financial security; 8.4 A role for government?; 8.5 Rapid claims mechanism; List of references; Annex 1. Overview of interviews with stakeholders; Annex 2. Checklist for country studies; Annex 3. Oil Pollution Act Liability Limits 2013.