Book Reviews

Manual of Oil and Gas Terms, Williams & Meyers, 10th ed
(Martin, P & Kramer, B, eds), Matthew Bender 1997, ISBN 0-8205-1821-2; 1195 pages

The world of oil and gas has like all specialised professional communities its own language, a mixture of geological, engineering, commercial and legal terms. This language has grown out of its very specialised activity and is often influenced by imports and usage of terms characterised by a special geographic origin (e.g. the terms of the Texas land-man). To an uninitiated outsider (and probably even to most insiders), a good part of such terms are in terra incognita. Emerging out of industry practice, defined, not always correctly, and with more or less authority in legal documents (statutes; judicial pronouncements; contract language) or technical compendia, such specialised language nevertheless is relied upon in commercial transactions, often without further explanation. If disputes arise and legal analysis of such terminology is embarked upon, there is often a great need to understand better the connotation of such specialised terms. It is here that the "Manual of Oil and Gas Terms" is of great help and a starting point for any inquiry. In addition, the richness of the oil and gas industry community, its history, conflicts and methods of organising transactions influenced by technical logic and a variety of legal environments emerges as in any field from its language. Knowing the proper use of such terms is a large part of understanding the industry and its practices.

The new tenth edition has definitions for over 5000 legal, engineering, industrial and tax terms relating to the exploration, development, production and transportation of oil and gas, with new additions, updates and references to relevant statutes, cases, publications and law review articles plus useful cross-references. If one would choose a desk library of, say, 30 books for an oil and gas lawyer, this would be one of them.

Nevertheless, this very useful reference tool is not without some problems. First, it reflects, as most information produced in the US, the vast experience of this large country historically so prominent in the oil and gas world, and non-US ("rest-of-the-world") experience is limited. While there are references to UK oil and gas law (e.g. "ring-fencing"), I would venture that about 95% of the terms have their origin and main relevance in domestic oil and gas law. A short search for some modern terms of international E&P practice ("uplifting", "Energy Charter Treaty", "decommissioning"; ""R-factor tax") did not produce any result. Some key terms (e.g. production-sharing contract) are explained, but only in rudimentary and not fully satisfactory fashion. Also, I wonder if it is not time to provide such a reference tool on a searchable CD-Rom.

To sum up: An essential, most useful, but in the international, non-US oil and gas world not sufficient practical research tool.

T. Wälde, CEPMLP/Dundee