By 1985, every oil and gas-producing state but Texas had passed a 'unitization' statute requiring cooperation among the various owners of oil and gas reserves. Using interviews, legislative transcripts, and statistical data, Jacqualine Lang Weaver attempts to explain why Texas failed to enact such a statute – aimed at encouraging the most efficient recovery of resources – and how Texas has managed to achieve substantial unitization nonetheless. Originally published in 1986.

This comprehensive book addresses both the principles and the practicalities of petroleum unitization. Paul F. Worthington draws on both his extensive experience of the global petroleum industry and his insights into petroleum unitization in some 90 jurisdictions worldwide to map out the evolution of and rationale for unitization in legislation and to provide much-needed guidance on the formulation of a legislative framework for effective regulatory governance of the unitization process.

The institution of property is as old as mankind, and property rights are today deemed vital to a prosperous economic system. Much has been written in the last decade on the economics of the legal institutions protecting such rights. This unprecedented book provides a magnificent introduction to the subject. Terry Anderson and Fred McChesney have gathered twelve leading thinkers to explore how property rights arise, and how they bolster economic development. As the subtitle indicates, the book examines as well how controversies over valuable property rights are resolved: by agreement, by violence, or by law. The essays begin by surveying the approaches to property taken by early political economists and move to colorful applications of property rights theory concerning the Wild West, the Amazon, endangered species, and the broadcast spectrum. These examples illustrate the process of defining and defending property rights, and demonstrate what difference property rights make. The book then considers a number of topics raised by private property rights, analytically complex topics concerning pollution externalities, government taking of property, and land use management policies such as zoning. Overall, the book is intended as an introduction to the economics and law of property rights. It is divided into six parts, with each featuring an introduction by the editors that integrates prior chapters and material in coming chapters. In the end, the book provides a fresh, comprehensive overview of an intriguing subject, accessible to anyone with a minimal background in economics. With chapters written by noted experts on the subject, Property Rights offers the first primer on the subject ever produced. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Louise De Alessi, Yoram Barzel, Harold Demsetz, Thráinn Eggertsson, Richard A. Epstein, William A. Fischel, David D. Haddock, Peter J. Hill, Gary D. Libecap, Dean Lueck, Edwin G. West, and Bruce Yandle.

This book examines the concept and purpose of joint development agreements of offshore hydrocarbon deposits from the perspective of public international law and the law of the sea, taking into consideration and extensively reviewing State practice concerning seabed activities in disputed maritime areas and when hydrocarbon deposits extend across maritime boundaries. It distinguishes between agreements signed before and after the delimitation of maritime boundaries and analyzes the relevance of natural resources or unitization clauses included in maritime delimitation agreements. It also takes into consideration the relation between these resources and maritime delimitation and analyzes all the relevant international jurisprudence. Another innovative aspect of this book is that it examines the possibility of joint development of resources that lay between the continental shelf and the Area, considering both theoretical and practical problems. As such, the book is a useful tool for scholars and experts on public international law and the law of the sea, but also for national authorities and practitioners of international disputes resolution, as well as public and private entities working in the oil and gas industry.