OWNERSHIP
An Italian Professor and a Dutch Republic Jurist once described the ownership theory as,
‘a real right that potentially confers total control over a thing, which means that the right of ownership empowers the owner to do with his thing as he deems fit, subject to limitations imposed by public and private law’;[ A plena in re potestas].
The ownership rights confer on the oil company absolute right to the land wherein they can deal with same in any manner they choose, provided it is in conformity with best business practice. It also allows the oil company, to retain a reversionary interest in the land, where it so chooses to do so. It is important to note however, that absolute ownership may only be used by an oil company for structures such as refineries, transport yards (beneficial tenements) because of its inherent disadvantages in other areas of use. However, the ownership theory is not laced with its challenges some of which are discussed below;
i) Obtaining an ownership right may be costly; to obtain an absolute right of land may be costly. For example, to obtain the Governor’s consent over an assignment may occasion a prolonged delay. Unlike obtaining some limited rights, the length of time and money used up in seeking absolute ownership of land just for the purpose of laying a pipeline is commercially unprofitable for a business minded company.
ii) Apart from (i) above, there are also some public law restrictions, imposed on land owners. It can be said some of these restrictions can be avoided by the use of limited rights.
iii) Ownership confers perpetual right on a land. Depending on the nature of the interest acquired, where the right is perpetual, a company who purchases a land for the sole purpose of oil and gas business may be compelled to own the land, even when the business is redundant.
SERVITUDE
Although not commonly used in Nigeria,servitude grants real rights to a person, other than the legitimate owner, over a property.W.M Gordon defines the term servitude as
‘a burden on one piece of land(‘the servient tenement) In favour of a neighbouring piece of land(‘the Dominant tenement’) such as a right of way across The servient tenement,or a prohibition of building on the Servient tenement so as to obscure the lights of the Dominant tenement’[1].
Additionally, the servient tenement submits his rights to the dominant tenement. Being a class of right developed in the Roman times, the traditional servitude is unlimited and is further sub-divided into two
i) Rural: This relates to tenement which is used for agricultural purposes
ii) Urban: This is used mainly for normal commercial and industrial purposes.
Although, it has been argued that there is no legal significance between the above two, and that some of the servitudes may be both rural and urban, it is important to note that the qualification of a servitude right, whether urban or rural does not depend on its locality but rather in the way the right is being put to use.
Servitude right is the most commonly used rights not only by oil and gas companies, but also by the governments who rely on servitude rights to erect and maintain pipelines and roads. In The Law of Property, servitude was described as ius in re aliena (a limited right which entitles its holder to the use of another person’s property).Servitude rights are not granted in isolation, they are usually granted for the benefit of another land known as the ‘benefited property‘. In the UK [Scotland], servitude rights are not transferable until discharged or limited in a manner that excludes the particular plot of land.
In the grant of servitude, an oil and gas lawyer must ensure that the landowner has an inherent right of servitude over the land in other to grant same. Similarly, the landlord must also ensure that servitude is not constituted in favour of a leasehold right. This is unlike the position in common law. Many a times, disagreements often arise between the servient tenement and servitude holder regarding allowances of both parties dealing with the servitude access. But it is settled law that where an express provision of restraint exists preventing the erection of any structure at certain agreed radius to and from the pipeline, especially where there are other inhibiting factors preventing the erection of structures other than the pipeline, the servitude holder will be absolved.
As attractive as it seems, an oil and gas company in some other jurisdiction is still faced with the challenges the requirement of vicinity of the benefited property, non-allowance of third party use of pipelines, unnecessary restraint over third-party use of pipelines, transfer of servitude rights in the ever-increasing growing network of pipelines and creation of installations, amongst others.
Check back for the last installment in this series. Read the first part here. Transportation of Oil & Gas Products: Property Issues An Oil & Gas Lawyer Must Consider (II)
Of course we have the breakout sessions dedicated to the various practice areas including arbitration, transportation, capital markets, communication, taxation, aviation, practice development, information technology, travel, tourism 
Continental Shelf to the outer limit of its Exclusive Economic Zone, as determined in accordance with the Convention on the Continental Shelf held in Geneva, April 1958.
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