Canadian natural gas deregulation has terminated government price setting in favour of prices determined by market forces. However, the transportation of the commodity remains regulated due to the monopolistic nature of the distribution system and the Canadian economies of scale which preclude business rivalry. This paper attempts to discern whether the transition to a new regime is following the legal principles underlying public utility regulation. Promotion of the public interest is therefore a pervasive theme of this paper. While regulatory law allows certain forms of discrimination in the setting of rates and the provision of services, it prohibits undue or unjust discrimination. The thesis proposed herein focuses on regulatory theory and the possibility that incidents of undue discrimination may have been exacerbated by the deregulation process. The examination begins with a review of the discrimination provisions of section 92A of the Constitution Act 1867, the so-called "Resource Amendment". More attention is directed to public utilities theory given its compelling application to the natural gas industry. Deregulation is then discussed including an analysis of "direct sale" contracts involving the commodity as well as the "bypass" of the local pipeline distribution systems. Some conclusions are then made concerning competition and changing commercial conditions. Grave doubts are voiced as to whether the National Energy Board is properly applying the principles of public utility regulation during the transition to a more market oriented natural gas environment. One important conclusion is that direct sale contracts should be encouraged in the core market as well as in the industrial market by the National Energy Board in order to promote upstream competition among gas producers in the public interest. Finally, it is hoped that these doubts will be resolved by the Board in its new (RH-1-88) public hearing which will address issues related to deregulation, including direct sales and the ancillary self-displacement and operating demand volume (ODV) methodology. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

by Paul W. MacAvoy [and] Robert S. Pindyck. / Bibliography: leaves 73-74.

This study attempts to show that judicial review of administrative decisions has provided the greatest degree of protection for consumers during the time that natural gas has been subject to regulation by the Federal Power Commission. The first part of the investigation deals with the activities of the regulatory agency since controls were established in 1938. It continues with a discussion of the influence of consumer and producer interests on the legislative process. The contributions of the courts to policy-making is discussed in the following section. The report concludes that more protection from the political environment could be realized by placing the major responsibility for the regulatory program in the hands of the Executive branch.

The resource curse is a defining feature of the African content. Despite vast resource wealth, Africa remains the poorest and most underdeveloped continent in the world. The aim of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the primary laws regulating of oil and gas exploration and product activities in Angola, Nigeria and South Africa in order to determine their effectiveness in protecting the continent's depleting petroleum resources. Different regulatory models apply to Angola, following the Norwegian carried-interest model, Nigeria, where a British discretionary model has been retained, an a South africa, where a unique model has been developed. The comparison is conducted by analysing and comparing these different regulatory systems in terms of legal frameworks; the legal nature of the regulatory systems; ownership of the oil and gas resources; legal nature of licenses; organisational or institutional structures; fiscal systems; local communities benefits from these proceeds of oil and gas resources; local content; state/government participation arrangements; and environmental challenges. The study evaluates the effectiveness of these regimes by examining the extent to which they recognise and enforce state ownership of he oil and gas resourcs in situ; recognise and enforce the doctrine of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources (PSNR); protect the environment; how they provide for institutional capacities for the management of resources; and the protection of local communities from exploitation and abuse by recognising their rights to benefit from revenues derived from these resources. An overall assessment of the three systems reveals that there is no ideal model for oil and gas regulation in Africa. The Norwegian model might well be considered an ideal model if it was applied with care and correctly in Angola. The study hopes to gain practical importance for the proper regulationof the oil and gas industries' upstream activities in Africa and assist governments of the selected jurisdictions in their policy revisions, as some recommendations are made. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. D.