Authors: Peter Roberts

• ISBN: 9780198951438
• Published: October 2025
• Format: Hardback, 232 pages
• Language: English
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (UK)

Description:

For more than seventy years, upstream petroleum concessions have been the main contractual tool used by states to attract investment for exploration and production, allocating the state’s benefit and leaving the commercial and technical risk to the investor. As governments commit to net zero targets and reconsider future oil and gas development, these concession models are under unprecedented pressure to adapt.

This book analyses how upstream petroleum concessions are structured, how they are granted and managed, and how they can evolve to accommodate the energy transition. It examines the interaction between concession forms and climate policy, and shows how states and investors can rebalance risk allocation, investment incentives and climate responsibilities in a decarbonising world.

Across its three parts, the book guides readers from the logic and mechanics of concessions, through the detailed terms (scope, duration, investor obligations, fiscal and non-fiscal benefits), to the emerging trends that will shape upstream projects as states move away from business-as-usual petroleum expansion.

About the Author:

Peter Roberts is a solicitor with more than three decades of experience in the oil and gas sector. He has advised governments, national oil companies and international investors on upstream projects around the world. Roberts is a visiting professor in law and a long-standing lecturer in oil and gas law at several universities. He has served in leadership roles in professional energy law associations and has written extensively on petroleum contracts and energy law.

Table of Contents:

Part A – Concessions and the Energy Transition

1. The Logic for a Concession

2. Concession Forms and Mechanics

3. The Energy Transition

4. State-Sponsored Withdrawals

Part B – The Terms of a Concession

5. Parties, Collateral Support, Governance, Transfers

6. Scope and Duration

7. The Concession Area

8. The Investor’s Obligations

9. Fiscal Terms

10. Other Grantor Benefits

11. Constitutional Provisions

Part C – Evolving Concessions and Sector Developments

12. Modifying Concessions and Concession Awards

13. Promoting Gas Production

14. Promoting the National Oil Company

Why buy this book?

This is a specialised and practical guide for understanding how upstream petroleum concessions will operate in an era of rapid decarbonisation. It connects traditional oil and gas concession practice with emerging climate-driven policies, helping readers anticipate how licensing, fiscal regimes, investor obligations and state withdrawals will be redesigned.

For lawyers, in-house counsel, regulators and energy executives, the book offers a clear framework to evaluate concessional terms under net zero strategies, renegotiations and new bid rounds. For academics and students, it provides a structured overview of concession theory and practice, linked to contemporary debates on climate risk, stranded assets and the future role of the national oil company.

Keywords:

upstream petroleum concessions, energy transition, net zero, oil and gas law, energy law, climate risk, fiscal terms, state-investor relations, concession awards, national oil company, gas production, petroleum licensing, Oxford University Press

Target Audience:

energy lawyers, oil and gas practitioners, in-house counsel, government officials, petroleum regulators, national oil company executives, energy policy-makers, contract managers, negotiators, postgraduate law students, energy economics researchers

Genre:

energy law, oil and gas law, natural resources law, environmental and climate law, commercial law, academic and professional

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