51852aca_y_and_Natural_Resources_Center__Course_Description
[0] Spring 2016 [Course] 5327 Legal Practitioner's Guide to the Oil and Gas Industry [Credit] 3 [Course Area] Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law [Course Description] 
Houston is the Oil Capital of the World. Nearly all major and large independent oil and gas companies have offices in Houston. Hundreds of oil-business related companies call Houston home. Texas, as well as Houston, have perpetual needs for lawyers who understand how the oil and gas industry works and who are able to identify issues and offer practical legal solutions for the industry�s problems. Even clients opposed to the oil and gas industry are desperate for lawyers who understand the business. Nearly ten million Americans are employed directly or indirectly in the oil and gas business. The United States is overtaking Russia as the world�s largest oil and gas producer with over a million active wells operated by 18,000 oil and gas companies. There are 162,000 service stations, hundreds of thousands of miles of pipelines and 141 refineries operating in the United States. America has 3,800 offshore platforms producing oil and gas; nearly all of which are in the Gulf of Mexico. The industry added over 600,000 American jobs in the last two years. The near future will see the current American oil and gas �boom� spread throughout the world as technological enhancements being used in the U.S. are adopted in other countries. Major stakeholders in the oil and gas business include landowners; developers; royalty owners; realtors; banks; local, state, and federal governments; foreign governments; regulatory agencies; non-governmental organizations; and shipping companies. Business men and women, accountants, economists, geologists, engineers, environmental scientists, public officials, and lawyers represent only a few of the professionals that make full time careers in the oil business or find themselves in positions to regularly and professionally interact with and represent people who do so. The oil industry created and continues to use an extensive, unique, and colorful language that can confuse and impede those outside of the oil-patch. The most successful lawyers in this industry understand the business and its language and are able to identify legal issues that arise from the well-site to the gas pump. Clients gravitate toward lawyers that can speak their language, understand their business, and help them solve problems. This course teaches oil industry business basics and terminology. It teaches basic concepts of exploration, production, pipeline operation and refining that are known by the majority of operating and business people in the industry. Knowing these basics will equip the lawyer to better negotiate and advocate for his or her client and more easily identify legal issues, opportunities, causes of action, and remedies. Oil companies often take opposing positions with respect to environmental protection, employment law, health and safety, use of independent contractors, risk taking, and regulatory and legislative advocacy. Knowing how and why these positions are taken, and the legal risks associated with each position help company-lawyers best serve their clients. Knowing these business and legal rationales also benefits lawyers collaborating with, or working in opposition to, the oil companies such as trial attorneys, regulatory attorneys, and lawyers from non-governmental organizations. The student should complete the course with an appreciation of how the entire industry works, be able to identify legal issues that typically arise in numerous business disputes and opportunities, and be better prepared to assist his or her client with optimal legal solutions to those matters.
University of Houston Law Center - Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center
Course Description