Analysis: “‘Salami Slicing’ of Exploration Projects is not contrary to the Hydrocarbons Directive” by Florian Stangl

In its recent judgment in Regione Puglia (C-110/20), issued on 13 January 2022, the Court of Justice decided that splitting a major exploration project into several smaller sub-projects in order to comply with the size-related thresholds set out in national law does not per se infringe the Hydrocarbons Directive (Directive 94/22/EC). As will be explained below, the decision did not come as a surprise since the Hydrocarbons Directive gives Member States a significant margin of appreciation in this regard. It could, however, be argued that the European ambitious climate targets necessitate a stricter authorisation regime for fossil projects in the EU.

The facts of the case in a nutshell: Global Petroleum, an Australian upstream expl