The 2013 seventh annual Juris investment arbitration conference put in issue the special role of international energy projects in the development of investor-state arbitration. It is currently one of the most active sectors of investor-state arbitration. The “facts” of the energy sector therefore are particularly well-developed in international jurisprudence.
The similarities in the applicable law of investment protection between the energy sector and other sectors tend to hide from view what our panelists repeatedly uncovered: it is the facts of energy disputes that significantly set them apart. The concerns of sovereign dominion over national energy production and the protection of foreign investors in the energy sector against stranding large investments served as a key point of departure for discussions.
The four questions that the Conference addressed include: