International Investment Dispute Resolution Involving Energy Companies

Throughout the recent history of international investment arbitration, transnational investment disputes in the energy sector have traditionally received considerable critical attention due to their frequency and substantial compensations awarded. Being a strategically important sector of the global economy, energy production gives resource-abundant countries certain advantages which might be used in pursuit of enhancing their political influence. Such politicization of energy relationships exacerbates international tensions. Due to substantial costs incurred in energy production most countries face the need for funding, including foreign investments that entail sensitive issues arising out of long-term risk relations between the hosting state and a foreign investor. Therefore, the establishment of efficient mechanisms for settlement of energy disputes involving foreign investments has become a central issue for international cooperation in the energy sector. The main objective of the study is to examine energy investment regulation provided by international and bilateral legal instruments as well as landmark jurisprudence and arbitral practice. The research project is seeking to identify the particular features of international dispute resolution concerning investments in the energy sector, both substantive and procedural ones. The further step is to determine whether such particularities exist only within the Energy Charter Treaty framework or they are inherent in the very nature of the energy investment dispute regardless the legal basis of the international energy cooperation. Finally, the research paper is aimed to evaluate to what extent the non-ratification of the Energy Charter Treaty affected the Russian energy policy at the global energy market and its international relationships