Legal Regime of Offshore Oil Rigs in International Law

The subject of this book is an investigation of the international legal issues relating to the establishment, the operation and the decommissioning of offshore oil rigs in different parts of the sea. It examines the legal status of offshore oil rigs, the issue of jurisdiction in relation to, or on board, oil rigs and the protection of such installations under international law. It also examines environmental issues, including the decommissioning of oil platforms, and the conflict between the establishment and the use of offshore oil rigs and other uses of the sea. The investigation proceeds by examining the relevant sections of all international conventions which have provisions relating to offshore oil production and international and national cases. It also investigates national legislation and the practice of states in relation to international legal aspects of offshore oil installations in order to gain an understanding of the legal regime for these installations and to formulate and suggest an international law framework based on that understanding. Generally, the significance of the findings of this book is that, under international law, offshore oil installations, in spite of their increasing importance, are subject to fragmentary and vague legal rules.