We’ve blogged about oil and gas industry translations and mulitilingual technical translation services for manufacturing and industrial companies. Petroleum and gas companies are perhaps one of the world’s most global sectors, with transactions spanning across many borders. However, in recent time, many oil-producing countries have also established their own, state-owned oil companies. As a result, international oil companies often find themselves negotiating transactions and agreements with the state-owned company. These transactions often pertain to the exploration and exploitation of oil resources where the state owns the resources while the company uses its technology and capital to use the resources for profit. In its most simple structure, such transactions are business partnership agreements.
Many of these public-private agreements are long-term. However, as times change, many states attempt to adjust the agreements. To protect themselves, companies tend to insure against risk, spread against the risk, or create contractual mechanisms to manage the risk. This is often done in the form of a Stabilization Clause, which address one specific type of risk that a contract can affect, such as political risk. When creating such a stabilization clause, it is important to have a foreign language translation of all the terms prepared. More so, the foreign language translator should use the terminology that is easily understood by both parties and that captures the essence of the rest of the agreement.