Editorial

The 2009 has been an interesting year. In addition to the financial crisis and the ever intensifying efforts to combat climate change, we have also seen significant changes in EU energy law and policy and the ECT process. We have also seen changes in the international natural gas markets followed by the developments in the Brazilian pre-salt area and the US shale gas. These developments continue to have major legal and policy implications. The Caspian region is becoming increasingly important, no least because its significant reserves of natural gas and its location between EU, China and Russia.

Many of these changes have been discussed in the OGELFORUM during the year. The highlights of the discussions include the "January 2009 Russia - Ukraine gas crisis", developments in the "climate litigation", and "Oil in the ground vs. Money in a bank and income diversification" to name a few. These developments have also examined and explained in the Special issues published this year. Other significant changes in the global energy will be examined in the issues that are planned for 2010.

After the three specials published earlier this year with this fourth issue of 2009 we bring a variety of subjects to your attention in this general issue of OGEL. This issue includes material of general interest such as transparency, contracts and human rights but also follow up material from previous specials such as Dr Kaj Hobér's "Ownership of the Oil and Gas Resources in the Caspian Sea: Problems and Solutions - International Arbitration and Contractual Clauses", various contributions by Dr. John Gault and further material on the EU - Russian relationship and energy security from various authors and a contribution on the Energy Charter Treaty by Dr. A. Konoplyanik.

For 2010 a number of exiting issues are planned, see www.ogel.org/callforpapers.asp for an overview. Topics include: Antitrust issues in the energy sector, Kazakhstan, Host Government Agreements and more. And on OGELFORUM we will continue with the various regular reviews such as the Arbitration and Litigation Review; Legal News and Climate Review.