Possibilities of Using the Unitization Model in the Development of Transboundary Groundwater Deposits

Abstract

Groundwater belongs to the category of strategic minerals, along with hydrocarbon resources, so the supply of drinking water will become one of the urgent problems of modern society. The management of groundwater resources and their protection is a very complicated task, especially in border areas where neighboring states jointly exploit aquifers. The problem of transboundary water resources management, in particular groundwater, has been considered at the international level for more than 30 years. However, despite the adoption of a number of conventions, agreements and programs, both at the global and in the format of interstate relations, an understanding for the approach of a universal solution to the transboundary water issue has not yet been formed. An attempt to study the possibilities of applying the principles of unitization on the example of transboundary oil and gas fields in comparison with groundwater cross-border deposits is made in the paper for the first time. As a successful example, the unitization agreement between Norway and the UK for the development of the Frigg field was chosen. It is established that unitization agreements concluded by states in the joint development of transboundary mineral deposits, actively used in regulating the activities of transboundary oil and gas fields, can be used as one of the possible models of international agreements on the extraction of groundwater in transboundary territories.