This course provides students with an understanding of the future of oil and gas as an energy resource, the framework of conservation law and property law used to produce and regulate oil and gas in the U.S., and the externalities of production. The course also reviews the nature of the typical oil and gas lease used in the U.S. on private lands and on federal leases. The federal laws related to offshore leasing are reviewed, notably the Coastal Zone Management Act and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The latter part of the course studies the role of FERC in regulating natural gas markets and oil and gas pipelines and its role in assuring reliable gas supplies for the new gas-fired power plants that are projected to supply an increasing share of electricity to the grid in the future as coal-fired and nuclear plants are retired.