Successful start of the 2016-18 North Sea Energy Law Programme in Groningen

The third round of the North Sea Energy Law Programme had a great kickoff in Groningen. Ten international participants were welcomed by the coordinating Professor Martha Roggenkamp (GCEL) at her home upon arrival and on the first day of teaching by Professor Jan Berend Wezeman, Dean of the Groningen Law Faculty.

The programme is a two-year part-time joint degree (LL.M) for professionals in the energy sector. A key component involves spending two weeks in each of the four partner universities. The unique structure allows the participants to continue full-time employment and enables them to establish close relationships with fellow participants and with lecturers. The programme does not only attract participants from EU countries, but also from countries such as Mozambique, Brazil and Taiwan.

The Groningen block featured lectures within the overarching theme: ‘Electricity and Gas: Liberalising and Regulating the Market’. Beyond the lectures, which were partly held at GasTerra and Gasunie, the participants visited Nuon plant Magnum, a gas fired power plant which will function as a black-start facility in the future and the Dutch-Norwegian electricity interconnector NorNed in the Eemshaven.

The programme in Groningen includes leading academics from the RUG and practitioners representing industry (Martijn Vermeer, Gasunie and Johanner Hettema, GasTerra), practicing lawyers (Silke Goldberg, HSF) and government (Ruben Vermeeren, DG Comp EU Commission). This particular combination contributes to intense high-level discussions. The success of this first block can be inferred from the evaluation in which Groningen block received an average grade of 4.57 out of 5 overall.

It is still possible to apply for the remaining teaching blocks in the current round (2016-18):

• Upstream Oil and Gas: Public and Contractual Law Aspects - University of Oslo (29 January to 11 February 2017)
• Energy Investments, Trade and Security - University of Aberdeen (18 June to 1 July 2017)
• Green Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development - University of Copenhagen (22 October to 4 November 2017)

More information about the blocks, costs and admissions at www.nselp.eu

This article was published by the Faculty of Law.

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