• Pricing under pressure amid extreme volatility and market divergence
• Conscious breach: when market incentives collide with contractual discipline
• Global turmoil testing force majeure, hardship and risk allocation
• Price review: what works before tribunals and what doesn’t

Our espresso version of Tylney Hall. Delegates will submit questions in advance on topical energy themes and will then be invited to present their question to the moderators and members of the audience on the day.

The symposium will focus on current developments in international arbitration through the lens of the energy sector, including geopolitical risk, energy transition projects and long-term infrastructure disputes.

• Does international arbitration provide fairness and predictability to parties in politically charged energy disputes? Are there any limitations?
• Are geopolitical priorities overwhelming the rule of law?
• What lessons can be drawn from energy disputes from Venezuela, Russia, the Middle East and Latin America?
• Does access to arbitration encourage energy investment and trade in high-risk jurisdictions?

• Where are renewables disputes most likely to arise in the coming decade?
• Are existing arbitral regimes equipped to handle the technical, regulatory and sovereign dimensions of these disputes?
• Regional differences in renewable energy arbitration in the US, Europe, Africa and Asia

• Is liability still the central battleground in modern energy disputes, as projects grow more complex and risks are spread across multiple parties and contracts?
• How should tribunal’s approach liability where technical uncertainty is unavoidable, including drilling, subsurface performance and early-stage project failure?
• What role do experts play in helping tribunals disentangle breach, causation and quantum in large-scale energy arbitrations?
• Are established approaches to loss, delay and production claims still fit for purpose in energy disputes shaped by volatile markets?

• Is investor-state arbitration still fit for purpose in an energy landscape defined by instability and strategic state behaviour?
• To what extent are geopolitics and resource nationalism now driving investor-state claims in the energy sector?
• Oil-market volatility and reshaping risk: pricing, production levels and contractual stability
• How are tribunals approaching force-majeure arguments in energy disputes triggered by war, sanctions and other hostile actions?
• Is the Energy Charter Treaty reaching a tipping point?

In classic Oxford-Union style, two teams will argue for and against the motion, with rapid rebuttals and audience participation. Our judge will test the arguments, invite interventions from the floor, and deliver a reasoned decision naming the winning side.

Motion: This house believes that energy security should trump decarbonisation targets