Ready to drill?
Ready to drill?
This PhD thesis explores how countries regulate the environmental and operational risks of offshore oil and gas activities. Offshore production accounted for around 30% of global oil output in 2023. While it helps meet energy demand, it also poses serious threats to marine ecosystems and coastal communities. Surprisingly, there is no global treaty that specifically regulates offshore oil pollution or safety risks from drilling.
In light of these gaps, this research develops a conceptual framework to assess whether the regulatory regimes of coastal States are adequate to mitigate these risks. The framework is built from an interdisciplinary approach combining the Law of the Sea, analysis of key environmental and safety risks, regulatory theory, and a comparative study of the regulatory frameworks of the United Kingdom and the United States.The framework is then applied to Colombia, a coastal State in the early stages of offshore oil and gas exploration and production.
This thesis goes beyond describing regulatory frameworks. It exposes gaps, contradictions, and structural tensions. It offers a critical and constructive reading of the Colombian regime, highlighting areas that must be strengthened to align with international standards and ensure effective risk regulation. It shows how countries adapt -or fail to adapt— their regulatory frameworks to international best practices, and which structural factors limit these efforts.The findings contribute a new perspective on regulatory challenges in hazardous industries and are also relevant for emerging sectors such as offshore wind and deep-sea mining.