Types of Political Risk Leading to Investment Arbitrations in the Oil & Gas Sector

It is often believed that investment arbitrations are filed because some form of political risk materialized, harming the investor’s interests. This is the hypothesis that the authors examine in this article, focusing on the oil & gas sector. They analyze which types of political risk, present in the host state, eventually lead oil & gas investors to file investment arbitration claims against that state. They find statistical evidence supporting the idea that bad governance and economic nationalism are indeed conducive to arbitration claims in the oil & gas sector. However, it appears that economic hardship does not have the same triggering effect.

Keywords: foreign investment, arbitration, political risk, bad governance, economic hardship, economic nationalism

JEL Classification: E22, E62, G31, K33

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Dupont, Cedric G. and Schultz, Thomas and Wahl, Melanie and Angin, Merih, Types of Political Risk Leading to Investment Arbitrations in the Oil & Gas Sector (June 11, 2015). Journal of World Energy Law & Business, Vol 8, 2015, Forthcoming., King's College London Law School Research Paper No. 2015-36, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2617209