Friday, June 12, 2015

Dupont, Schultz, Wahl, & Angin: Types of Political Risk Leading to Investment Arbitrations in the Oil & Gas Sector

Cedric G. Dupont (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies), Thomas Schultz (King's College London – Law), Melanie R. Wahl, & Merih Angin (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) have posted Types of Political Risk Leading to Investment Arbitrations in the Oil & Gas Sector (Journal of World Energy Law & Business, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
It is often believed that investment arbitrations are filed because some form of political risk materialized, harming the investor’s interests. This is the hypothesis that the authors examine in this article, focusing on the oil & gas sector. They analyze which types of political risk, present in the host state, eventually lead oil & gas investors to file investment arbitration claims against that state. They find statistical evidence supporting the idea that bad governance and economic nationalism are indeed conducive to arbitration claims in the oil & gas sector. However, it appears that economic hardship does not have the same triggering effect.