англ тэк

6. Выполните контрольный перевод на английский язык письменно, используя лексику урока.

Осуществление и контроль

Часто за осуществление и контроль отвечает главная принимающая решение сторона. В случае проектов добычи нефти и газа, это может быть правительство, представленное соответствующими регулирующими органами. Однако, при использовании процесса совместного принятия решений, было бы логичнее ожидать, что интересы всех участников будут удовлетворяться наилучшим образом тогда, когда за осуществление и контроль будут отвечать те же люди, которые вели переговоры. Кто конкретно будет осуществлять контроль можно решить потом. Например, на канадском Севере один из подходов предполагает, что контроль (и отчетность) должны быть добровольными, отражая тем самым совместный подход к принятию решений в ходе заключения соглашения. Есть и другие мнения, согласно которым контроль должен осуществляться регулирующими органами. Могут возникать и такие ситуации, когда контроль предписывается законом и, следовательно, обсуждению не подлежит. Вопрос о контроле вполне может быть поднят в ходе переговоров при обсуждении последующих процедур.

Не каждый процесс принятия решений завершается полным консенсусом при разрешении сложных проблем. Многое здесь зависит от внешних факторов, таких как существование соответствующей правительственной политики, наличие необходимой информации, достаточного времени и ресурсов для обеспечения процесса. Преодоление таких трудностей демонстрирует решимость всех участников определять новые цели, которые недостижимы при действиях в одиночку. Там, где полного согласия достичь нельзя, усилия участников все же могут сузить масштаб конфликта и предоставить достаточно информации для принятия решения.

7. Используя материалы урока, поясните своему англоговорящему коллеге, как можно преодолеть трудности в установлении взаимоотношений с общественностью.

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Урок 1

ВАЖНОСТЬ ОБОРОТА ЛИЦЕНЗИЙ ДЛЯ НЕФТЕГАЗОВОГО СЕКТОРА

THE TRA>SFER OF OIL A>D GAS LICE>SES A>D ITS IMPORTA>CE TO THE I>DUSTRY

Active terms and expressions

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1. Прочитайте упражнение и изложите его содержание на английском и русском языках как можно ближе к тексту.

Many people, from both Russia and elsewhere, have observed that much more capital needs to be invested in the Russian petroleum sector, if the levels of production and discovery of new resources are to recover from their sharp falls in recent years. Many different recommendations have been made as to how investment might be attracted to the Russian industry. One type of recommendation has advocated that Russian law be changed so as to allow freer transfer of oil and gas licenses amongst companies. There has been considerable debate in Russia as to whether such a move would be desirable.

The purpose of this material is to describe why the transfer of licenses is so important to the successful development of Canada’s oil and gas resources. Many points made here are illustrated by examples from Alberta, the Canadian province from which most oil and gas is produced. On the other hand, the section of the material on registration of interests in licenses uses the system which applies to the eastern offshore of Canada to explain how such a registry is operated.

2. Найдите в тексте эквиваленты словосочетаний:

подпадать под юрисдикцию федерального правительства; затратить самую большую сумму на проведение работ; получать право разрабатывать полезные ископаемые; становиться активами компании; до тех пор, пока они не будут добыты; коммерческие сделки с лицензиями; представлять собой тор-

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говлю принадлежащими государству нефтью и газом; процесс выдачи лицензий на добычу нефти и газа; после обращения в соответствующий правительственный орган; разрешение вести определенные виды деятельности на данных землях; подавать заявку на получение лицензии и получать ее; относиться к финансовым ресурсам и послужному списку компании; иметь соответствующие финансовые и технические возможности; в соответствии с экологическими и иными требованиями.

TEXT

The Transfer of Oil and Gas Licenses and its Importance to the Industry

The overwhelming majority of oil and gas resources in Canada are publicly owned, that is, they are owned by a government (either federal or provincial) to which the Constitution has allocated ownership. For example, in the Province of Alberta, which produces more oil and gas than any other Canadian jurisdiction, about 80 % of the hydrocarbon resources are owned by the provincial government. In contrast, in the northern territories (which fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government), virtually all hydrocarbon resources are publicly owned. All offshore resources, regardless of their location in the country, are publicly owned.

Although government-owned companies have existed, and played a role, in the Canadian oil and gas sector in the past, all of those companies have been privatised. Accordingly, now in Canada, all exploration, development and production is carried out by the private sector. The essence of the system is thus: the government which owns the resource, that is, either the federal government or one of the provincial governments (or some combination of them), sells rights to the company which bids the highest amount. In Alberta, for example, the winning bid is that which promises to pay the highest bonus to the provincial government. Where it is the federal government that owns the resource the winning bid is that which promises to spend the greatest amount on operations (this is called the «work commitment»). In all cases, it is the highest bid, accord-

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ing to a single criterion, which is publicly known in advance, that wins the rights to work the minerals.

The rights issuance processes used by governments in Canada (which are described in the book entitled «The Legal Framework for Rights Issuance and Rights Management in Canada») result in companies, which are not government-owned, acquiring legally defined interests in publicly-owned resources. Once these interests are acquired by companies, they become corporate assets. However, it should be noted that it is not the oil and gas resources themselves which are the corporate asset here. The corporate asset is the interest in the license, or if the company holds 100 % of the license, then the license itself which is the asset. The oil and gas resources themselves remain the property of the government, which owns them, until they are produced; ownership moves from the government to the license holder at the wellhead. So, commercial transactions in licenses do not constitute trading in state-owned oil and gas; instead, a transfer of a license amounts to a transfer of an opportunity, in whole or in part, to explore for, develop or produce resources.

It is important to draw one’s attention to the fact that there are in Canada essentially two stages of oil and gas licensing. In the first stage, a company acquires the basic rights to explore for, develop and produce the resources. In the second, a company receives, upon application to the relevant government agency, authorization to carry out specific operations on the given lands, for example, to drill a well. Accordingly, there is an important distinction to be made between the transfer of oil and gas rights1 and licenses to drill wells. For example, companies planning to drill a well in Alberta must not only have acquired the necessary rights from the provincial government’s Resource Development Department, through an auction, as is described in a book entitled «The Legal Framework for Rights Issuance and Rights Management in Canada», they must also apply for and receive a license to drill from the regulatory body to which the province has given the job of regulating oil and gas operations which is the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (the AEUB). It is

1 In Canadian practice, these may be called either «licenses» or «leases». The difference in nomenclature does not matter for present purposes.

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this agency’s job to ensure that wells are spaced so as to maximize recovery of the resource, that operations at well-sites are technically safe and environmentally acceptable, that is, that good oil-field practices are followed, and so on. These licenses cannot be freely transferred. Instead, companies wishing to transfer them must obtain the approval of the agency that issued them, that is, the AEUB.

In fact, the AEUB imposes quite strict conditions, if the holder of a well license seeks to transfer that license to another company. These restrictions relate to the financial resources and operating record of the company to which assets are being transferred; they are intended to ensure that the companies to which well licenses would be transferred have both adequate finances and the technical capability to ensure that on-going operations and eventual decommissioning occur in compliance with environmental and other requirements. By requiring formal approval of these transfers, the provincial government is attempting to prevent companies from transferring ownership of well licenses to «shell» companies which have no assets and which cannot, therefore, be held financially accountable for the costs of complying with all applicable laws.

2. Подберите эквиваленты словосочетаний

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4. Переведите устно (абзацно-фразовый перевод)

Transfer of interests in licenses in the western Canadian oil and gas industry

The western Canadian geological basin, most of which falls within the boundaries of the province of Alberta and the Northwest Territories, but which also extends into British Columbia and Saskatchewan, contains significant conventional and nonconventional hydrocarbon deposits which have been exploited on a continuous basis for over 60 years. Although oil and gas are under exploration and development in other parts of Canada, most notably offshore eastern Canada and in the North, the western Canadian industry is the most highly developed, because it is of the longest duration in the country.

It can be said that, generally in western Canada, the transferability of interests has proven to be a significant factor in allowing oil and gas companies to take advantage of, and react to, changing economic realities. That companies avail themselves of this flexibility on a regular basis is without question. Statistics provided by the Government of Alberta, for example, show that in a recent twelvemonth period, the Department received for registration some 10,000 transfer documents involving a total, or partial, change of ownership in over 19,000 licenses. Companies operating in western

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