Pipeline Investment Treaties in Private International Law

This research is devoted to the analysis of existing international investment agreements (IIAs) and their application to the cross-border pipeline projects. In this work, the peculiar features of both BITs and FTAs are derived and their efficiency as a mechanism for protecting and stimulating foreign investment is estimated. Based on the conclusions from such analysis, future tendencies of such IIA when applied to pipeline projects are determined. In order to provide a comprehensive research and analysis the author used different methods: (1) the formal legal method was applied to interpret existing legal norms stipulated in international treaties, case law, and customary international law; (2) the comparative legal method was used to determine the scope of the application of different views on the investment pipelines regimes; (3) all conclusions and presumptions were made based on methods of analysis and deduction. The following conclusions were made, based on the data available: 1. IIAs remain one of the major instruments on bilateral and multilateral level for enhancing the regime for foreign investments and could be effectively used for future cross-border Russian pipelines projects if Russia adhered to its obligations as a host government; 2. IIAs, despite common criticism, are successful in stimulating foreign investment in general, but the increase of FDI, in particular, is dependent on the strength of provisions; and 3. As the case law shows, in energy sphere politicization of disputes distorts the effectiveness of IIAs and ISDS.