farrokhzad jahani

The trans-boundary oil and gas fields are the hydro carbon structures that cross territorial boundaries of one or more states . Furthermore some of oil and gas fields are located in the disputed areas and claimed by two or more states. These fields also studied in the international legal literature under category of trans-boundary reserves.
International law as an instrument for regulating the international relations peresents general legal framework to exploitation of the trans-boundary oil and gas fields. In this article the author rises and answers some questions about the general approach of international law governing trans-boundary oil and gas fields and specially analyses legal conduct of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar in South Pars gas field. The presumption of this article is that general rule in exploitation of shared or trans-boundary oil and gas fields is “cooperation” and Iran and Qatar also should be work together with cooperative approach.

Joint natural resources are those which naturally and without human intervention cross land or sea borders of a country and enter another country’s territory. Such terms as cross-border natural resources and international natural resources are used to elucidate this concept. This term also applies to all natural resources located in territories that are subject of dispute between various states. Although international law has recognized sovereign rights of states on the natural resources located in the continental shelf، there is considerable legal void as to joint natural resources which are shared by two or several states. However، the common procedure used by states and international bodies as well as the existing legal doctrine have pointed to a legal rule which is based on cooperation among concerned states in exploiting such resources. The procedure used by littoral states of the Persian Gulf is an example of that rule. Although there are about ten joint oil and gas fields between Iran and its neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf، for various reasons، most of them are being exploited unilaterally، which is not compatible with the economic interests of Iran.

The Caspian Sea is the largest completely enclosed body of water in the world containing vast oil and gas deposits in its subsoil. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991and increase in coastal states from two to five, we have witnessed long negotiations; conflicting political and legal views; conflicting economic interests of coastal states; and contradictory theses presented by law experts regarding the legal status of the Caspian Sea without any success in resolving the problems related to it. Although sovereignty over the sea bed and subsoil resources is one of the uninfringeable principles of international law of the sea and one of the inherent rights of states, the extent of acting upon this right is tightly related to maritime delimitation. The Caspian Sea is geographically a border lake which is not subsumed under the definition of closed or semi-closed sea stipulated in 1982 Convention. On the other hand, from legal point of view, the Caspian Sea has some features which distinguishes it from others. These features require a special legal regime for it; a regime which should be formulated with the agreement of littoral states and by taking its historical record, former contracts, and new facts into account. At the same time, studying other regions in the world shows hat the lack of maritime delimitation is not an obstacle for exploiting seabed and subsoil resources and states can exploit these fields through adopting measures such as common development of oil and gas fields and establishing common institutions.