Oil markets have fallen significantly since the latest round of borrowing base redeterminations in September and October. The next scheduled round of redeterminations is set for March. Expectations are that there will be substantial downward pressure on producers’ borrowing bases. Some reductions could trigger mandatory principal amortization which would have serious consequences for highly leveraged oil and gas companies ...
Policy & Law: What is the government policy and legislative framework for the electricity sector? Securing energy supply, competitive energy prices and meeting the European Union’s common energy and climate goals are core elements of policy in the Finnish electricity sector ...
As part of the implementation of the Energy Reform, the Mexican Government has selected certain areas and fields out of Round One which will be tendered for private industry participation in hydrocarbon exploration and production projects. Round One comprises 109 blocks for exploration and 60 blocks for production, and includes new areas of different sizes and types of resources, including: (i) deep-water; (ii) shallow-water; and (iii) on-shore fields ...
In Commission des normes du travail v. Compagnie d'assurances Standard Life du Canada,1 (the “Standard Life of Canada case”), the Court of Québec allowed an employer to file a counterclaim against an employee in the context of proceedings instituted by the Commission des normes du travail (“CNT”) on behalf of that same employee ...
In a unanimous decision dated November 17, 2014,1 the Court of Appeal of Québec held that the procedural fairness rules applicable in administrative and public law do not apply in the context of a psychological harassment investigation conducted by an employer. As a result, the Court set aside the judgment of the Court of Québec ordering the lawyer who conducted the investigation to pay $3,000 in damages ...
Action: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued a final rule increasing the limit of liability for damages under the Oil Pollution Act to $133.65 million. BOEM’s Final Rule: On December 12, 2014, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a final rule that, effective January 12, 2015, will increase from $75 million to $133 ...
California Paid Sick Leave is Here This term, the California Legislature enacted the Healthy Workplaces/Healthy Families Act of 2014 (AB 1522), which requires employers to provide paid sick leave at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked starting on July 1, 2015 ...
On December 2, 2014, the Yukon Supreme Court struck down the Yukon government’s Peel watershed regional land use plan because of the government’s failure to follow the process for developing that plan under final agreements (modern treaties) with the Na-Cho Nyak Dun, Tr’ondek Hwech’in and Vuntut Gwichin First Nations ...
It has long been known that Greenland possesses vast amounts of mineral resources. But due to climate changes, resulting in a rapid meltdown of ice caps in the Arctic regions, it is now getting easier to discover and exploit the mineral resources. The costs of exploring and exploiting minerals continue to decrease, and many experts believe that Greenland will become the next frontier within the mining industry ...
Also men are now allowed to book a room on the "Bella Donna" floor - the design of hotel floors for women only is discriminatory. This was established by the Danish Eastern High Court by judgment of 25 April 2014. In this case, one of the largest hotels in the country had established a floor for women only. This floor had a number of additional amenities not to be found on the other floors, including special toilet ware, flowers, and a particularly efficient hand shower ...
The City Court of Aarhus has established that two former employees' updating of their personal LinkedIn profiles while being subject to a non-competition clause was a breach of the clause. The case involved two employees who had given notice of termination in order to take up employment in a competing company ...
A summary dismissal of a salaried employee who was seven minutes late for work was justified according to the judgment of 27 May 2014 delivered by the City Court of Glostrup. The case involved an employee appointed as deputy manager in a supermarket who repeatedly showed up late for work - typically only a few minutes. It had been emphasised on various occasions to the employee that he had to show up for work on time - but without result ...
The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Employment of Foreigners (the “Law”) on 25 November 2014. The Law will come into force on the eighth day following its publication in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, i.e. on 4 December 2014The Law regulates the employment of foreigners in the Republic of Serbia in a different manner than compared with the currently applicable Law on the Conditions for Employment of Foreign Citizens ...
In a stunning employment verdict, a California jury awarded $185 million in punitive damages and $873,000 in compensatory damages to a former AutoZone store manager who claimed the auto-parts retailer mistreated her based on her gender, demoted her after learning she was pregnant, and ultimately terminated her from employment based on her decision to challenge her demotion ...
On January 1, 2015, the jurisdictional threshold of the Small Claims Court will be raised from $7,000 to $15,000. This constitutes a first step toward the modernization of civil procedure, explained the Minister of Justice, which will be followed by the coming into force of the new Code of Civil Procedure in January 2016.On February 28, 2014, the National Assembly passed Bill no ...
Offsite drilling is becoming increasing prevalent in the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas. Consequently, many in the industry were closely following a dispute between two neighboring operators in the Eagle Ford Shale area in which one operator opposed a neighboring operator’s plans to use offsite drilling. On October 29, 2014, the San Antonio Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiff lease owner, Lightning Oil Co ...
Motivated by the desire to optimize all matters concerning arbitration and to adapt our previous legislation to the principles set by the United Nations Commission of International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the Panamanian National Assembly enacted the Law No. 131 of 31st December 2013 on National and International Commercial Arbitration (the “Arbitration Act”). A summary thereof follows. Scope This Act applies to arbitrations, both national and international, with seat within Panamanian territory ...
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (“BSEE”) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPR”) on September 24, 2014 seeking comments on improving safety for operations related to helicopters, helidecks and aviation fuel systems on fixed offshore facilities. Comments on the ANPR are due November 24, 2014. The ANPR was issued just days after BSEE and the U.S ...
Based on a recent decision in West Virginia’s 3rd Judicial Circuit, which includes Doddridge, Pleasants and Ritchie counties, the use of litigation in the form of partition suits may be more problematic than it otherwise has been for oil and gas operators attempting to acquire property interests to create efficient drilling units for their planned wells. The Court’s decision (described below) denied a mineral interest owner’s request to partition by sale under W. Va. Code § 37-4-1 et seq ...
According to the recent amendments of the Labour Law (“Official Gazette of RS” no. 75/2014) (the “Law”) payslips are now an enforceable document. The Law has authorised the relevant Minister to further prescribe content to be contained on a payslip, by adopting the Rulebook on Payslip content (“Official Gazette of RS” no. 90/2014) ...
In recent years, the Dominican Republic has enacted reforms affecting virtually every industry and every significant Dominican statute with one principal goal in mind: to enhance the rule of law for the benefit of Dominicans and investors - foreign and domestic alike ...
The starting point for mediation in commercial disputes is that the parties themselves are in the best position to resolve the dispute, instead of entrusting it to an arbitrator or a judge. In this way, the parties retain control over their conflict, thus increasing the opportunities to reach a flexible solution. In this article we will briefly review the alternatives offered by the public courts in Sweden when a dispute already has emerged ...
The Law 1450 of 2011 by means of which it was issued the National Development Plan for the period 2011-2014 provided in its article 112 the creation of a Single Registry of Marketers of Minerals ("RUCOM" by its acronyms in Spanish), which is managed by the National Mining Agency ("ANM" by its acronyms in Spanish) in order to control the marketing of minerals in Colombia ...
The quality of one’s life is determined by the quality of the questions one asks oneself every day, and the realization that this truth applies equally to lawyering. Our theory, borne of experience, is that a lawyer conditioned to ask an empowering question when adversity strikes, such as: “How can I use this?” is a better and more effective advocate. You might one day owe your life to an accident. Literally ...
An employee or witness who is fearful of giving evidence as part of a disciplinary process can cause difficulties for an employer. We look at the issues you should consider when dealing with such an individual. Can anonymity be guaranteed? Where an employee is accused of misconduct, your first step will be to investigate the matter and gather accurate evidence as part of a fair disciplinary process ...
