Media Coverage
Source: Serbian Petroleum
Media Coverage
10.01.12
Robert James, a partner with Pillsbury’s finance section in San Francisco, is interviewed on the complex balance of private and public interests with national oil companies (NOCs) and international oil companies (IOCs). With an NOC-IOC strategic alliance, a mixture political challenges and strengths is created, as opposed to the dynamic of a NOC or IOC acting on its own.
Whether a NOC-IOC venture is strengthened by its political mix or burdened by it depends critically on the selection of partners and leaders, and on the business and legal design of incentives and structures in the alliance agreement, James said.
When asked if cooperation between NOC and IOC is one of the solutions for overcoming the challenges facing the gas and oil industry, James said one challenge in today’s industry is the need to exploit challenging resources in frontier environments.
“It is in this area where the standing NOC-IOC alliance could prove most powerful,” James said. “As a general rule in these frontier projects, NOCs will furnish access to the difficult reserves, and IOCs will play key roles in bearing risk, delivering capital and technology, and managing projects.”