Crafting Enforceable Pre-Contractual Agreements to enter into Definitive Contracts
Article from: OGEL 5 (2013), in Contract Management, International Petroleum Contracts
Introduction
Parties in the oil and gas sector regularly enter into preliminary agreements (or pre-contractual agreements). These agreements are usually partial - they set out certain terms that are agreed and postpone several important elements to be negotiated at a later stage. Under English law the enforceability of an agreement to negotiate a further contract is doubtful. This article explores how one could craft legally binding preliminary agreements to negotiate further agreements. Section 2 below begins by considering the current English legal position on agreements to ...