The Changing Roles in the Arbitration Process (With Regard to the Applicable Law Governing the New Generation of the Petroleum Agreements)

A very interesting evolution is currently taking place in the field of petroleum disputes which emerge under: (i) completely modern agreements concluded during the last decade; (ii) pre-existing agreements having undergone series of amendments to bring them in line with the prevailing trends in the oil industry relationships. In both alternatives, the old concession agreements were totally replaced or radically transformed. Evidently, the main features of the emerging pattern reflect the fundamental shift in the bargaining power that caused the abandon of the pre-1973 stereotyped model which secured for the foreign oil company an almost unrestricted freedom from all restraints. The said old type guaranteed for the concessionnaire the right to do whatever he deems appropriate in relation with a large area and over a period extending to 60 years or more, stabilised conditions which presupposed the existence of a dormant governmental party whose only entitlement or concern was to get a certain financial income contractually agreed upon between the two parties. More precisely, the financial governmental take could not have been raised under whatever changing circumstances without the agreement of the foreign private party. Contrary to that old type of concession, the new pattern which emerged since 1973 can be characterised as being dynamic, evolving in a manner that meets the predominant public interests of the host country and is necessarily adjustable to the