Validity of Lex Petrolea and Lex Mercatorea in International Petroleum Law and Contracts: A Critical Review

Proponents of the idea of lex petrolea generally claim that there is a specific genre of rules and procedures that governs transnational contracts, arbitrations, and transactions germane to the petroleum industry. The existing literature on this idea is far from being coherent and consistent. While some scholars have approached the subject with understandable caution referring to lex petrolea as not yet a mature set of legal regulations for international petroleum industry, others have imprudently considered lex petrolea as an autonomous transnational petroleum world order. Regardless of internal theoretical inconsistencies, the essential point with respect to the legal validity of lex petrolea and lex mercatorea is the claim of their autonomy and independence from national and international legal orders. This article provides a critical review of the certain existing literature on lex mercatorea, in general; and on lex petrolea, in particular. It will explain that both ideas lack the requisite elements of a legal system/order, hence both cannot be considered as independent or autonomous legal systems. They will rather continue to function as sorts of legal regimes confined to the rules and principles of national and international legal systems.