Parts III–IV

The importance of invoking and disputing the national interest in natural resources has grown in direct proportion to the increasing importance of these resources and in inverse proportion to their dwindling quantities. A silent yet intense struggle currently characterizes the field of natural resources, particularly oil fields and precious metal mines. Therefore, we can assert that the power exercised over natural resources determines the hierarchy of the economic strength of the world’s nations as well as the standard of living of their populations. The use of natural resources as an effective tool for economic consolidation has become state policy, and the expansion of exploration and exploitation capabilities in foreign territories has necessitated the development of complex regulations at the international level. Consequently, an in-depth study of this field requires an analytical perspective on all the dimensions outlined from a legislative standpoint, including those of an international and European nature.

Keywords: oil concession, mining concession, institutionalized public-private partnership.