Foreign Investments in the Offshore Energy Industry: Investment Protection v. Energy Security v. Protection of the Marine Environment

Abstract

The present paper wants to identify and discuss the legal challenges posed by the offshore energy industry in the light of the relevant international legal framework, which is fragmented among the different fields of international law mentioned above, and among different sectors of activities (e.g., oil and gas industry; renewable energy). It aims at assessing the inadequacy of such a legal framework in order to deal with the protection of three common concerns, which are threatened by the existing situation: the protection of marine environment; the energy security; and the protection of foreign investments in offshore energy projects.In order to gauge how these three common concerns find a balance and consider if one of them should prevail, the analysis falls into three main steps. The first part gives a brief and not exhaustive overview of the relevant legal framework. The second part critically discusses the main challenges posed by the offshore energy industry in light of recent technological and normative developments. The third part presents some concluding remarks, which suggest ‘an integrated, interdisciplinary and intersectorial approach’ to the offshore energy sector in order to find a balance between the protection of foreign investments, the protection of the marine environment and energy security.