Study On Liability And Responsibility For Transboundary Oil Pollution Damage By Drilling Platform

Since the mid-twentieth century，offshore oil industry has developed rapidly. Inthe past decades, the oil industry has expanded from shallow sea to deep sea,following by the increasing number of oil drilling platforms. At present, there areabout6,000oil and gas platforms in the whole world, including fixed drillingplatforms, mobile drilling platforms and underwater drilling equipments. However,with the increasing number of drilling platforms, as well as the growing importance ofmaritime operation, related oil pollution becomes inevitable. Although the operatingactivities of drilling platforms are concentrated in the offshore region, they can causetransboundary pollution. As the existing studies have focused on the claims within acountry, transboundary compensation related has not yet been given sufficientattention to. Therefore, the thesis mainly analyzes international responsibility andliability from the perspective of transboundary oil pollution damage (herein afterreferred to as the “Damage”) caused by drilling platforms.The thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter one mainly introduces the legal definition of the drilling platform, therelationship between vessels and drilling platforms, the scope and characteristics ofthe drilling platform.Chapter two emphasizes on the civil liability for the Damage, particularly theimputation principle and grounds for exemption, subject of right and liability, scope of compensation and liability limitation.Chapter three mainly discusses the state responsibility and liability for theDamage, including the application conditions and dilemma in judicial practice.On the basis of specific elaboration of Draft principles on the allocation of lossconcerning transboundary harm arising out of hazardous activities (herein afterreferred to as the “Draft principles”), Chapter four mainly demonstrates theapplication of the loss allocation models in the Draft principles to the Damage. Due tothe limitation of civil liability and state responsibility for the Damage, some new ideasare put forward concerning the allocation model for the timely and adequatecompensation to victims of the Damage.In conclusion, the thesis summarizes the whole views and brings forward somesuggestions for the improvement of liability and responsibility for the Damage. Firstly,though numerous conventions and agreements are focused on marine environmentalprotection, none of them specially deal with compensation for the Damage. So it isurgent that international maritime legislation shall be reinforced to establish a uniformstandard for the dispute resolution in this field. Secondly, in order to compensatevictims immediately and sufficiently, the loss allocation models in the Draft principlesshould be improved, and therefore international cooperation mechanisms shall beestablished. Thirdly, some suggestions are put forward in handling China’scompensation on the Damage, such as to perfect China’s compensation law in thisfield and to establish oil compensation fund and compulsory insurance which can beapplied to the Damage. In addition, China should actively promote and participate ininternational legislation on the Damage, in order to take the initiative in theprevention and control of transboundary oil pollution damage, and thereby protect ourmarine environment.