Environmental Regulation of Russia's Offshsore Oil & Gas Industry and Its Implications for the International Petroleum Market

Authors

Deborah K. Espinosa

Abstract

Due to Northeast Asia's increasing energy demand, the Russian Far East's immense oil and gas reserves, and the close physical proximity between the two regions, international petroleum companies are exploring Russia's offshore petroleum reserves in the Far East. The Russian offshore industry, however, presents foreign investors with many legal uncertainties including exposure to environmental liabilities. This Comment suggests that Russia's environmental regulatory system, which includes a constitutional right to a healthy environment, presents international petroleum companies with a new set of circumstances to which they must adapt if Russian reserves are to satisfy Northeast Asia's rising energy needs. To do otherwise would be to expose themselves to greater liability in an already risky investment climate.

First Page

647

Recommended Citation

Deborah K. Espinosa, Comment, Environmental Regulation of Russia's Offshsore Oil & Gas Industry and Its Implications for the International Petroleum Market, 6 Pac. Rim L & Pol'y J. 647 (1997).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj/vol6/iss3/7