ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relationship between international law and national energy law, and on how international and national law interacts in defining the total legal regime for energy activity, on the international and the national level. International energy law encompass public international law that regulates issues of relevance for energy production and distribution. The relationship or interface between international and national energy law is part of the more widely discussed question about the relationship between international law and national law. The chapter analyses the more general character of the relationship between international law and national law in regulating energy activity. The right of a state to exercise jurisdiction over its natural resources is regarded as a fundamental principle of international law. One important development in international law which has a great impact on energy production is the extension of coast state sovereignty and rights to natural resources in the sea areas outside the sea territory of states.
