Department of Legal Regulation in Fuel and Energy Industry

The Department of Legal Regulation in Fuel and Energy Industry was established within the structure of the International Institute of Energy Policy and Diplomacy (MIEP) by a MGIMO University Academic Board decision of February 28, 2006.

The basic mission of the Department is to organize and conduct education and research activities related to training highly qualified specialists in the legal aspects of fuel and energy industry operations including the sphere of international energy cooperation and Arctic resources development.

To accomplish the mission, the Department has created the following specialized courses for the Bachelor and Master’s programs: Current Issues in Legal Regulation of International Energy Cooperation, Current Issues of International Legal Regulation in the Gas Industry, Legal Regulation in the Oil Industry, Legal Regulation in Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production, Legal Regulation of Investments in the Fuel and Energy Industry, Legal Regulation of Energy Markets, European Union Energy Law, Legal Issues in Nuclear Power, Legal Regulation in International Energy Trade, Contractual Relations in the Fuel and Energy Industry, System of Contractual Relations in the Domestic and International Oil and Oil Products Market, Dispute Settlement Methods in Energy Cooperation, Legal Aspects of International Cooperation in the Sphere of Renewable Energy Sources, etc.

On April 23, 2013, MGIMO University Academic Board decided to approve a Master’s Program called Legal Support for Energy Cooperation in Developing Arctic Oil and Gas Resources.

The Program aims to provide students with comprehensive knowledge and competence in the field of legal support for international energy projects related to developing Arctic Territories.

The curriculum of the Master’s Program includes such unique specialized courses as Current Issues of Legal Regulation in the Development of Arctic Oil and Gas Resources, (Arctic Law), National Legal Regimes in Developing Arctic Oil and Gas Resources (Russia, Norway, the USA, Canada, Denmark/Greenland), Legal Fundamentals to Attract Investments in the Arctic Region Development.

Such specialized courses are the pioneer courses in the Russian practice of training experts who specialize in the legal issues of energy cooperation.

The teaching staff of the Department (a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, two Doctors of Science (Law), PhDs (Law)) combines academic teaching tradition and practical experience of work with major state and private Russian oil, gas and power companies.

The Department has developed student internship and apprenticeship programs with different courts and other state organizations (such as Russian Energy Ministry, Russian Anti-Monopoly Service) as well as with law firms and legal departments of major oil, gas and power companies (Transneft, Zarubezhneft, Rosneft, LukOil, Gazprom, Rosatom, etc).

The Department is active in the research to study key legal issues in the energy sphere and its reforms, to develop conceptual approaches to perfecting energy law and international cooperation forms in order to achieve greater efficiency in the energy and energy resources use. The Department is paying great attention to analyzing environmental aspects in energy industry sustainable development: providing energy security, legally appropriate use of offshore resources, building and operation of transboundary pipelines, etc. The wide spectrum of research conducted by the Department covers such fields as environmental and energy security, Arctic mineral resources development regime and Arctic environment preservation, legal regime for the mineral resources development in the Caspian Sea, etc.

The Department is actively involved in developing projects within the framework of MGIMO Innovative Education Program. Recommendations from the Department conditioned renovation of all materials used in teaching specialized courses. The Department is involved in implementing a number of innovative projects to study international legal regulation of environmental aspects in fuel and energy industry operations and to conduct comparative analysis of reforms in individual spheres of energy sectors in the Russian and foreign economies.

The teaching staff of the Department and invited experts from government organizations and leading law firms supervise preparation of Master and PhD dissertations devoted to fuel and energy industry legal regulation issues.

Latest update — September 2020

Head of Department

Sergey Lobanov Sergey Lobanov

Doctor of law, Associate Professor


Contacts

+7 495 229-54-23 (inner 12-76)
energylaw@miep-mgimo.ru