An introduction to SA energy law

About the course
The three-day course is designed to give participants an understanding of the new and broad area of energy law given the development of new and rapidly emerging potential sources of energy and related developments in the field. These range from oil and gas law, including the potential of shale gas, to renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy. The course will cover commercial law, revenue law, and environmental law as well as other related areas of law. It will give participants a basic comprehension of the law relating to energy and will provide a broad understanding of the legal environment in which international transactions occur in South Africa.

Energy-related transactions, both locally and internationally, occur within a complex legal environment. Energy professionals often lack the broad understanding of what makes up this legal environment. This course will put into perspective the legalities ranging from authorisation requirements to interpreting and enforcing agreements to avoiding liability under environmental laws.

Who will benefit from this course?
- Government officials, legislators, policymakers and industry regulators
- Professionals from the upstream, midstream and downstream petroleum, (un)conventional gas and power sector looking to get a better sense of the legal and institutional framework regulating the entire value chain of upstream, midstream and downstream petroleum operations in the South African industry and gain global perspective of the sector
- Lawyers and investment consultants wanting to understand the span of the legal systems and contractual agreements governing energy operations in South Africa
- Banking and financial services professionals looking to play a key role in financing energy and thus seeking a pragmatic understanding of the sectors, the fiscal systems, investment opportunities, risks and solutions
- Investors and entrepreneurs wanting to venture into upstream, midstream and downstream petroleum, natural gas and the power sector and who therefore need a detailed understanding of the sector as well as insight into the legal and policy dynamics to explore investment opportunities as well as possible implications for planned investments
- Every player and stakeholder involved in energy and environmental issues in the energy sector wanting to broaden their knowledge of the dynamics of the sector and gain insight into current international best practices of the upstream, midstream and downstream petroleum sector

In the course of the programme, participants will be able to:
- Network with key industry players and make long-standing business contacts
- Develop comparative insights into the energy sector in a leading African economy
- Discuss international best practices suited to Africa in the energy sector in particular

Course outline
The topics to be covered will include the following:

Introduction to the South African energy law landscape
An overview of the South African energy landscape
- Primary energy sources (coal, oil, gas, nuclear, renewables, biomass)
- Final energy consumption by energy type/carrier
- Electricity: current generation capacity by type
- The Integrated Resources Plan (IRP2010)
- Coal: domestic consumption of thermal and coking coal; coal exports; SA Coal Roadmap
- Liquid fuels: imports (sources) and domestic synfuels (Sasol and PetroSA); offshore petroleum exploration; oil refining; fuel pipelines
- Gas: domestic production (PetroSA); Mozambique imports; options for additional regional pipeline imports and LNG; shale gas; offshore potential
- Nuclear: Koeberg; nuclear expansion plan
- Renewables: current status of renewable projects under the REIPPPP, including a case study
- Energy prices: historical, current and projected prices of liquid fuels and electricity

An overview of the South African energy legal landscape
- Common Law: the nature of energy
- Constitutional law aspects
- Governance: national departments and parastatals
- Legislation: National Energy Act, 34 of 2008; National Energy Regulator Act 40 of 2004; Electricity Regulation Act 4 of 2006 MPRDA (ch 6); Nuclear Energy Act 46 of 1999; Nuclear Energy Regulator Act 47 of 1999; Gas Act 48 of 2001; Gas Regulator Levies Act 75 of 2002; Petroleum Products Act, 120 of 1977; Petroleum Pipelines Act, 60 of 2003, others

Oil and gas law
- Recent discoveries across the region
- Putting the recent discoveries into context
- Route to market: monetising the resources
- Opportunities and challenges
- Potential impacts
- Relevant international experience
- Gas commercialisation: key oil and gas commercial contacts with an emphasis on transportation and processing agreements, gas sales agreements, shared infrastructure and LNG regasification

Environmental and revenue aspects
- The role and mechanism of environmental assessment
- Revenue laws and the energy sector
- The green economy: opportunities and challenges
- Lessons from relevant international experience

Course presenters

Professor Jan Glazewski
Jan Glazewski is a professor of law in the Institute of Marine and Environmental Law within the Faculty of Law. He was special advisor to the former Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mr Mohammed Valli Moosa in 2003/4. In the early 1990s he was involved in the inclusion of environmental rights in both the Namibian and South African Constitutions. His book Environmental Law in South Africa (Butterworths LexisNexis, 2005) was awarded the UCT book award and a looseleaf edition was published in 2013. His current research interests include climate change law, energy law and environmental law. His recent publications and reports are in the area of climate change liability, climate change and planning law, and carbon capture and storage.

Dr Jeremy Wakeford
Jeremy Wakeford is an independent economist specialising in energy and sustainability. He holds Master of Economics degrees from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Cambridge University, and obtained his PhD in Sustainable Development from Stellenbosch University. Jeremy is a senior lecturer extraordinary in the School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University, and was previously a senior lecturer in the School of Economics at UCT. His main areas of expertise are global, regional and South African energy, resource and sustainability issues, including green economy transitions. Jeremy consults for international organisations, national government departments, private sector clients and civil society organisations. Since 2009 Jeremy has served as chairman of the South African chapter of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil, an international network of experts who conduct research into and create awareness about the nature and implications of global oil depletion for society.

Luke McMichael
Luke is an associate at Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa. He focuses on mergers and acquisitions, environmental law, renewable energy and trust administration. Luke joined the practice in January 2011. He holds a BA (Hons) in environmental science and law from Rhodes University and a LLB from the University of Cape Town. Luke has also completed courses in environmental management through the North-West University's Centre for Environmental Management, namely, Integrated Water Resource Management and Essential Air Quality Management. Luke specialises in environmental law and advises major South African mining companies on the establishment and management of environmental mine rehabilitation trusts. Luke has also been involved in a number of legal due diligences in the mining, petrochemical, steel, energy, agricultural and water sectors. Luke was part of the team which advised sponsors, developers and lenders involved under the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme spanning wind, solar PV and solar CSP projects. During the course of Rounds 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the REIPPP he has specialised in the intricacies of SA environmental and land law in the context of renewables projects, and has been part of the deal team (advising on environmental and land issues - bid phase through to financial close).

Lisa Plit
Lisa Plit is a lawyer specialising in environmental law and sustainable development. She earned BA and LLB degrees from Wits, a masters degree in environmental law from the London School of Economics and a PhD from Macquarie University in Sydney. Her thesis title was 'Legislating for Sustainable Development: A Case Study of the South African Experience'. While living in London, Lisa worked in the insurance industry and then in the corporate social responsibility sphere. On her return to Johannesburg, she joined Edward Nathan. While working there, Lisa created South Africa's first Sustainability Index, which rated South Africa's top 40 listed companies. She also advised the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on the creation of its Socially Responsible Investment Index. During this time, Lisa also served as a non-executive director of the Johannesburg Roads Agency and was a member of the Mine Waste Solutions Environmental Committee.

Lisa also has experience in the areas of policy and legislative drafting, corporate sustainability policy and practices, environmental education and corporate governance. In 2002, Lisa moved to Singapore where she continued working as an environmental law consultant. She became an active member of the Singapore Jewish community, serving both as a member of its Jewish Welfare Board and as executive chairman of the Jewish School. Lisa and her family returned to South Africa a year ago and she is currently working in the Law Faculty at UCT.

Jim Petrie
Jim Petrie is energy director in South Africa's Western Cape Dept of Economic Development and Tourism. In this role, he has oversight of all energy matters, and, more widely, their impact on promoting a green economy. This includes energy strategy, renewable energy opportunities including biofuels, and resource efficiency, on which he works with key stakeholders across all spheres of government.

He is working currently to promote the potential of Western Cape markets for the importation of natural gas, including detailed analysis of import terminal infrastructure options, environmental impact assessment, and the broader socio-economic impact assessment of the gas importation opportunity.

He holds strongly to the view that not all natural gas investment opportunities should be viewed the same, and that it is critically important to understand all the nuances of each - their techno-economic potential and risks, their environmental and social impacts, and their overall effective contribution to the region's development. Jim is Emeritus Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Sydney, Australia; Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town; and Visiting Professor in the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, UK.

John Smelcer
John is head of the oil and gas practice at Webber Wentzel. He specialises in the development and financing of oil and gas projects across the value chain including unconventional upstream gas developments, large-scale liquefied natural gas financings and oil forward sale structures. He has taken a lead legal role on a number of the largest LNG project financings around the world, including in Qatar, Papua New Guinea and Australia. In addition, John has strong experience in the development and financing of downstream oil and gas projects, including refineries, gas-fired power projects, fertilisers and other petroleum-supplied industries. John's practice involves representing sponsors, governments and lenders (including commercial banks, export credit agencies, underwriters and DFIs) in all aspects of project development and the financing of those projects.

John holds a BA degree from Princeton University and a Juris Doctorate of Law from the University of Washington.

Kenny Paton
Kenny Paton is a director of Webber Wentzel and head of African exploration and production. Kenny has extensive experience from his time in Aberdeen and London, both in-house and in private practice, advising major and independent companies on all aspects of projects in the oil and gas sector worldwide. He has over 13 years' experience in upstream and midstream projects with a particular specialisation in development projects, transportation work and gas commercialisation contracts. Kenny has also advised many international independent oil and gas companies on a wide variety of transactions in Africa. His expertise has been recognised by Chambers Global (Energy and Natural Resources: Oil and Gas), which refers to Kenny as a 'leader in his field'. Kenny is dual qualified (English and Scots law).

Jason Van der Poel
Jason is a partner in the Banking, Projects and Regulatory Business Unit at Webber Wentzel. After qualifying as a South African attorney, Jason completed an LLM in banking and finance law at University College London (1999-2000) and worked as an English solicitor in the banking and international capital markets practice group at Allen & Overy LLP in the Netherlands for three years (2002-2005).

Jason has advised clients on a range of project development and finance transactions, including limited recourse project financings (including energy, resources and infrastructure financings), public private partnerships (PPPs), sovereign guarantees, partnerships and joint ventures, construction and operational contracts, concession or PPP agreements, power purchase agreements, procurement, loans, bond issues and securitisations. Jason is currently advising a number of participants in the various phases of the South African Government's Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme and is a member of Webber Wentzel's oil and gas sector group.

Registration details
Programme and venue information:
Signing in will commence at 9am on the first day unless otherwise advised and each day will end at approximately 5pm.

Award of certificate:
A certificate of attendance from UCT will be issued to those who attend all three days. Please ensure that you sign the attendance register every day.

Closing date for registration:
One week prior to the course.

Registration and enquiries:
Please contact the Professional Development Project:
Paula Allen on 021 650 5558
Andrea Blaauw on 021 650 5413
Fax:021 650 5513
Email:az.ca.tcu@nella.aluap/az.ca.tcu@wuaalb.aerdna/az.ca.tcu@llafressaw.aneri
OR visit our website: www.lawatwork.uct.ac.za to download the registration form.

Date: 15 April 2015 to 17 April 2015
Time: 09:00 - 17:00
Venue: Cape Town
Cost: R7,500 per delegate. The fee includes parking, lunches, course materials.

More info:

Instructions regarding the programme and directions to the venue will be sent to you electronically a week prior to the event.