This thesis essentially constitutes an analysis of laws designed to protect the marine environment from the pollution arising from the exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves, Chapter 2 addresses not only the origin and nature of oil and gas, but also the techniques employed in surveying for and producing these energy forms. Chapters 3 and 4, in turn, outline the history of offshore operations in South Africa and the UK, respectively, with regard, <i>inter alia</i>, to the location, size and economic significance of these operations. In order to properly address the South African legal framework's failure to adequately regulate pollution arising from offshore upstream operations, an explanation of the nature and forms of such pollution must first be set out. Chapter 5 analyses the concept of pollution from a legal perspective, while also giving detailed consideration to the various forms of pollution that may arise at each of the three stages of offshore oil and gas operations, which are surveying, drilling and production, and decommissioning. Chapter 6 has a dual focus. Firstly, it discusses particular environmental principles that underpin the development and application of environmentally orientated laws. Secondly, it considers various regulatory techniques and their suitability to environmental regulation of the offshore industry. Chapter 7 provides a detailed overview of the international legal framework applicable to offshore oil and gas operations. Chapters 8 and 9 consider the aspects of the UK's and South Africa's domestic legislation that provide for the environmental regulation of offshore oil and gas operations. Both chapters are structured so as to identify enviro-legal considerations relevant to each stage of offshore upstream operations. Both also contain critiques of the manner in which the relevant South African environmental law compares to that of the UK. To this end, legal lacunae and differences in regulatory approaches are identified and various suggestions are made for improving the current South African state of affairs. An argument is submitted for the formulation of a statutory solution to the South African predicament, particularly by means of the promulgation of an entirely new Act specifically designed to regulate the country's rapidly escalating offshore oil and gas industry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:531865 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Havemann, Luke Paul |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=158422 |
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