Negotiating upstream petroleum granting instrument terms with a state—what to do when the spider meets the fly

This article considers the key considerations to be borne in mind by an investor when negotiating the terms of an upstream petroleum granting instrument with a host government. In this article the term ‘granting instrument’ is used generically as a single term for ease of reference, intended to encompass all the different forms of petroleum concession, licence, contract or permit, but the article’s analysis is focused on the terms of a production sharing contract (PSC) simply because the PSC is the form of granting instrument which by far is the most widely used worldwide today for petroleum exploration and production. Despite this focus, many of the terms of the PSC which are considered in this article will also be relevant to other forms of petroleum granting instrument.