1、4.3 International ContractsIn the last section,we discussed the impact of the contract between the mineral owner and the oil company in the United States.In this section,we concentrate on the application of international contracts on the feasibility of field developments in other countries.Over the
2、last two decades,the emphasis in petroleum exploration has steadily shifted away from domestic oil industry and towards the international arena.The primary reason for this shift is the fact that more than 82%of the proven reserves lie outside the Western Hemisphere.The majority of the under explored
3、 and unexplored sedimentary basins(沉积盆地沉积盆地)of the world lie outside the United States.The probability of finding giant or large oil fields is much higher outside the United States than within the United States.The probability of finding giant or large oil fields is much higher outside the United St
4、ates than within the United States.Hydrocarbon finding costs in mature basins of the United States are much higher than many other counties.See Figure 4.1 which compares the finding costs in the United States with many other countries.These technological advantages outside the United States,when cou
5、pled with the stringent environmental and other regulations in the United States,make the investments in other countries even more attractive.Figure 4.1:Hydrocarbon finding costs in the U.S.versus other countries (after Bertagne)This section will discuss various contracts used between the host count
6、ry and the international oil companies to proceed with the exploration and development of potential hydrocarbon reserves.It is important to remember that the objectives of the host country and the international oil company can differ significantly.Most countries are afraid of exploitation,pollution,
7、loss of national pride,and the repetition of the recent history at the hands of the western civilization.The host countries like to be treated as equal and be part of the development of their own mineral resources so that it will benefit the entire population of the host country.On the other hand,th
8、e international oil companies are afraid of changing tax rules,expropriation(征用征用)of oil and other assets,nationalization of a private company,and political uncertainties.The oil companies main interest is economical.They would like to produce the hydrocarbons in the most optional fashion so that th
9、ey can maximize the benefits.To structure a contract between these two parties which will create a win-win situation for both the parties is a challenging task.The solution is the various types of contracts which have evolved over the last thirty years which try to balance the interest of both the h
10、ost country and the international oil company.In the first part of this section,we will discuss the background of international contracts which led to the development of modern contracts.In the next part,we present the purpose of each of the parties involved in the contract so that the understanding
11、 of the terms in the contracts becomes easy.In the next three parts we illustrate the three types of contracts which are most commonly used.These types of contracts are concession agreements,production sharing contracts and service contracts.Concession agreements require the least involvement of hos
12、t countries;whereas,the service contracts require the most involvement of the host countries.We will discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of these contracts and illustrate the applications of these contracts with several examples.4.3.1 HistoryThe early history of the world oil concessions i
13、s mostly dictated by the results of the two world wars.The oil companies from the victors of the two world wars largely controlled the oil production in the world.Specifically,seven sisters (Exxon,Mobil,Chevron,Shell,Gulf now a part of Chevron,Texaco and British Petroleum)dominated the worlds oil re
14、serves as well as transportation,refining and marketing of petroleum.Realizing the increasing importance of oil in the modem world,many of the seven sisters signed contracts with the rulers of the host countries to acquire the rights to explore for and produce hydrocarbons from these countries.Altho
15、ugh the original contracts differed from one another,many of these contracts contained some common features.These features are:*Definition of area which described the physical boundaries.Oil companies had the right to explore for and develop these areas.*Minimum amount of drilling required over a pe
16、riod of time till hydrocarbons are found in commercial quantities.*Duration of the agreement between 60-75 years.*Financial obligations of company which include signing bonus,annual rental fee and royalties for each barrel of oil produced.*Provision(规定）规定）to supply domestic oil requirements to the h
17、ost country at some predetermined cost(预计成本预计成本).*Other rights such as freedom of taxation or production controls.These contracts were largely based on the oil and gas leases typically signed between the mineral owner and the oil company in the United States.For example,a contract between SOCAL(now
18、Chevron)and King of Saudi Arabia covered an area of approximately 500,000 miles over a sixty-six year term.Ruler of Abu Dhabi granted a seventy-five year concession to a consortium of oil companies covering the entire country.Similarly,the Kuwait concession was over a seventy-five year period coveri
19、ng the entire country.In these agreements,the host countries did not participate in managerial(管理管理)decisions.Sole benefit received by the host countries is the royalties.In many contracts,the royalties were fixed at a flat rate(统一费率统一费率)per barrel of oil rather than based on the sale price.Even whe
20、n the royalties are based on the sale price,the oil price was primarily set by the oil companies.Since many concessions were held(控制控制)by the consortia of oil companies,by making joint off-take agreements,the total production from virtually all major concessions could be controlled.This,in turn,cont
21、rolled the price of the oil and hence the royalty payments.Many host countries started realizing the drawbacks of these traditional agreements.The major problem being the lack of control over the exploitation of minerals on their own sovereign(统治统治)land.Venezuela demanded that the oil contracts be r
22、evised to allow for higher royalties and taxes in return for a forty year renewal.In 1948,Venezuela passed a law that established the Venezuelan government as a partner with the multinational(跨国跨国)oil companies.In Mexico,the oil companies were granted virtual ownership in the oil produced from the c
23、oncession without any term limit.This changed in 1917 with change in Mexican Constitution which explicitly granted the ownership of natural resources to the Mexican government.Over the next twenty years,the Mexican government imposed new taxes which oil companies refused to pay.This led to increasin
24、g disputes between the two parties.Eventually,in 1938,the government announced expropriation of the oil industry,transferring the production to its national oil company,Pemex.Argentina approached the problem of dealing with international companies in a different way.Argentina was the first country t
25、o establish a national oil company,YPF(Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Agrentinos).YPF slowly started capturing the domestic retail gasoline market.Further,the government started granting exclusive rights to YPF to explore for and produce hydrocarbons from new territories.The multinational oil com
26、panies started losing interest since they were unable to explore for new production.Most countries in the Middle East resorted to re-negotiation of the original contracts to secure more favorable terms.Several factors contributed to re-negotiation of these contracts.First,the emergence of small or m
27、edium size oil companies which were not part of the seven sisters.To compete with the seven sisters these companies were willing to provide more favorable terms to the host countries.Second,several oil producing countries joined together to form the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC
28、).The existence of one entity representing the interests of many countries helped coordinate efforts to re-negotiate the original contracts.OPEC also facilitated sharing of information between different countries helping them to re-negotiate contracts with more favorable terms.It also become increas
29、ingly obvious that it is unfair to tie royalties of individual countries to the posted prices controlled by the seven sisters.By the end of the 1970s,the majority of the Middle Eastern OPEC countries nationalized their petroleum industries.During the 1970s and 1980s,producing countries outside OPEC
30、increasingly demanded better terms in the contracts between the host country or its nationalized oil company and the international oil company.The oil prices where high and the areas where the international oil companies can explore were limited.This resulted in significant oil production outside th
31、e OPEC and resulted in decreasing share of the OPEC countries in the worldwide production.Eventually,in 1985,OPEC abandoned its effort to control oil prices.Instead,it targeted certain percentage of the worlds share of oil production.This resulted in a collapse of the oil price.With lowering of oil
32、price and opening of new countries such as Russia and Vietnam,the international contracts are further evolved.To attract foreign investment,many host countries are offering more favorable terms to the international oil companies.This has resulted in changes in some terms of the international contrac
33、ts.Overall,however,the three types of contracts have emerged as the most commonly used types of international contracts.What type of contracts a host country uses depends on its objectives.In the next part,we will discuss the type of objectives the host countries normally want to achieve in signing
34、an international contract.4.3.2 ObjectivesIn signing a contract between a host country and an international oil company,both parties want to achieve certain objectives.Independent of the type of contract which is signed between the two parties,both parties try to satisfy most of the objectives.To un
35、derstand the terms included in the contract,it is important to consider the objectives of the parties involved in the contract.Objectives Of The Host Country The objectives of the host country can be divided into three broad categories;financial,political and technical.Each of these objectives are d
36、escribed below.*FinancialBy inviting an international oil company to explore for and produce hydrocarbons,the host country can eliminate,or at least,minimize the initial capital investment.If the project is successful,by ensuring appropriate terms in the contract,the host country can secure signific
37、ant amount of financial benefits from the production of hydrocarbons.These benefits can be reinvested in other similar or different projects of national interest.*PoliticalMost of the developing countries have been previously colonized by Western countries.Awarding contracts to international oil com
38、panies is a sensitive issue and involves a national pride.To overcome this foreign dependence,the host countries would like to maintain control over the operations of the project as well as the hydrocarbons produced as a result of the contract.Instead of being passive beneficiaries,the host countrie
39、s would prefer to play an active role in the field developments so that the natural resources are optimally exploited to the countrys benefit.Further,by controlling the hydrocarbon production,the country may be able to influence desired foreign policy goals.It can also reduce the imports and gain ec
40、onomic efficiency.*TechnicalBy signing a contract with an international oil company,the host country can benefit from the technical expertise within the oil company.This will not only reduce the risk in the exploration efforts,but also will utilize the latest technology in the development of the oil
41、 field.In addition,the host country will also like to gain technological independence so that,eventually,the future fields can be discovered using local talent and local companies.Therefore,the host country will prefer that the international oil companies hire domestic force,provide education grants
42、 and local R&D effort,and transfer technology to the local talent.In addition,the companies should also prefer the local companies for the outside contracts.Objectives Of International Oil CompaniesSimilar to the objectives of host countries,the objectives of international oil companies can be descr
43、ibed in three broad categories:financial,operational and political.*FinancialThe companies would like to maximize their benefit with minimum amount of cost.They will also prefer that the initial investment be recovered as soon as possible(short pay back period)so as to minimize the impact of any pol
44、itical uncertainties.The companies also prefer that the revenue generated can be repatriated(返回国内返回国内)and their share of crude can be sold in the open world market.*OperationalThe international oil companies prefer to have an operational control over the project.Rather than sharing the operational r
45、esponsibilities with some bureaucratic agency(官僚当局官僚当局),they will prefer to operate the field so as to preserve the economics.The international oil companies fear that by sharing controls with a host country or its wholly owned subsidiary(辅助的辅助的),the production decisions may be made based on domesti
46、c political considerations rather than sound economics.*PoliticalThe international oil companies realize that their existence depends on the ability to explore for and produce hydrocarbons from host countrys sovereign land.It is,therefore,important that good working relationship be maintained with t
47、he host country and the local community so that the company can secure additional concessions when awarded.The company,therefore,is willing to spend resources on the development of local communities as well as local talent.On the other hand,the companies want to be careful as to what terms are agree
48、d to in signing the contract.The companies prefer not to set a precedent in one contract which can be used against them in either the same country or in other countries.If the company gives in too much,it will be subjected to similar demands in the future.4.3.3 Types Of ContractsThe three types of c
49、ontracts most commonly used between a host country and an international oil company are concession agreements,production sharing agreements and service contracts.concession 租让制租让制,世界上进行石油勘探开发最早使用的一种体制。它规定石油公司有世界上进行石油勘探开发最早使用的一种体制。它规定石油公司有权在租让区进行勘探、开发、生产以及根据自己所确定的价格和数量、出口所生产的石油，主权在租让区进行勘探、开发、生产以及根据自己
50、所确定的价格和数量、出口所生产的石油，主权国通常只得到矿区使用费作为报酬。目前仍有一些国家对外国石油公司采取租让制方式，但权国通常只得到矿区使用费作为报酬。目前仍有一些国家对外国石油公司采取租让制方式，但已有许多改进，有的还可得到其他利润和定金，特别是增加了参股条款和所得税。已有许多改进，有的还可得到其他利润和定金，特别是增加了参股条款和所得税。production sharing agreements 国际上石油合作开发的一种很通行的合同国际上石油合作开发的一种很通行的合同形式。印度尼西亚最早采用。其主要特点是规定石油公司可从合同区油田的每年原油产量中通形式。印度尼西亚最早采用。其主要特点是
