Introduction

The objective of this paper is, firstly, to have a look at the development of the NOCs, then at the JOA as an agreement type and finally, examine the way how NOCs participate in JOAs. It should be noted, however, that the nature of NOCs depends a lot on the development stage of the host country and its petroleum sector. For example at one hand Saudi Aramco, Gazprom and Petrobras are likely to have similar views as they all share strong financial and technical capabilities. On the other hand NOCs more recently created in developing countries might not have strong finance or ...