‘A thorough analysis of local content. A go-to reference book. Having a robust local content policy is one tool to avoid the resource curse. But to succeed it must be carefully tailored to the circumstances of the country and must gradually evolve as local vendors, services, and employee capabilities are enhanced. ‘Local’ content is necessarily just that-local, not truly national and certainly not global, but this book, while covering the globe, recognizes the need to tailor local content to local circumstances. Every host government and investor can benefit from the many wisdoms imparted in this book and from about the local-content experiences of various countries.’
Owen L. Anderson - Distinguished Oil and Gas Scholar and Co-Academic Director, KBH Center for Energy Law and Business, the University of Texas at Austin, and Eugene Kuntz Chair in Oil, Gas and Natural Resources, Emeritus and George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emeritus, The University of Oklahoma, United States of America
‘Damilola Olawuyi has brought together a group of leading energy and natural resources law scholars to address the important subject of local content requirements. These requirements are often contentious, and the contributions in this book unravel the many legal challenges that attend them. The contributors identify the value of measures that increase the benefits that flow to a host country or community from oil and gas operations, and, to a lesser extent, renewable electricity. At the same time the contributors explore the many difficulties. The book is a valuable contribution to the scholarship of energy and natural resources law, and it will be a key point of reference globally for researchers and policy makers interested in the characteristics high-quality local content requirements.’
Barry Barton - Professor of Law and Director of the Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
‘There is a growing body of literature on local content requirements. No doubt because of the speed and importance of various developments in this area. This book provides a detailed and comprehensive account of local content policies and their interaction with sustainable development trends in energy markets. It provides an overview of the current state of play around the world and discusses future developments in great detail. The book is clearly essential reading for students in energy law, policy makers and international energy law practitioners. More generally, it should be read by those interested in direction of global energy markets.’
Kim Talus - McCulloch Chair in Energy Law and Director of Tulane Center for Energy Law (Tulane University, United States); Professor of European Economic and Energy Law, UEF Law School; Professor of Energy Law, University of Helsinki, Finland
‘This book offers an excellent exposition and comparative analysis of local content requirements in the energy sector, as well as highlights the often-neglected issues for sustainable development, such as gender injustice, social exclusion, transparency, corruption, accountability, corporate social responsibility, environmental justice, climate change, human rights, and participatory development. It also appropriately considers the impact of current geopolitics and international treaty obligations and offers constructive recommendations for designing, applying and implementing local content requirements. For the African Legal Support Facility, whose mandate includes ensuring balanced negotiations and contracts between its regional member countries and investors in the energy, extractives and infrastructure sectors, the issues and recommendations discussed in this volume are relevant for advising on appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks, building capacity, and negotiating contracts that will ensure sustainable development.’
Stephen Karangizi - Director and Chief Executive Officer, African Legal Support Facility, African Development Bank
‘Olawuyi has brought together an impressive number of renowned specialists to discuss local content experiences in light of international treaty obligations on trade, investment, business and human rights. This much needed innovative approach provides solid understanding of several legal and fiscal regimes as well as valuable insights on how to design sustainable, transparent and effective local content requirements in global energy markets. This is an important book for policymakers, scholars, stakeholders, lawyers and any interested observer.’
André Giserman - Deputy Superintendent of Local Content, Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels
‘Olawuyi’s germinal scholarly work in creating the conceptual apparatus for, editing, and integrating the various chapters of this book, more or less closes a yawning gap in the literature by tackling an extremely important topic that lies close to the heart of the longstanding effort of resource-rich countries to benefit much more than has generally been the case from their natural resource endowments. The book sparkles with disciplinary cross-fertilization, creativity and insight in putting into a highly productive conversation, several bodies of knowledge and policymaking that are all-too-often incorrectly viewed and treated as isolated and disparate. In the result, he has produced a work of scholarship that will be just as useful to human rights, environmental, indigenous rights, and sustainable development scholars and practitioners as it will be to their counterparts who focus more closely on fields such as energy, trade, investment, or corporate law and policy.’
Obiora Chinedu Okafor - United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity and York Research Chair in International and Transnational Legal Studies, Osgoode Hall Law School, Canada
