This article is devoted to the analysis of the international legal status of drilling rigs, in particular, the variability of approaches to determining their legal status. In modern conditions, the approach to determining the international legal status of floating drilling rigs is determined depending on the goals and objectives of a regulatory legal document. At the same time, it is advisable to distinguish between the legal statuses of floating drilling rigs depending on the mode of their operation: the construction of wells or transportation. Floating drilling rigs are distributed all over the world, which means that any actions related to the rigs will entail legal consequences. Most countries, including the Russian Federation, classify floating drilling rigs as marine vessels. This approach is reflected in many international conventions. However, one cannot ignore the fact that at the time of well construction, drilling rigs acquire the status of "artificial island, installations, and structures." The implementation of such a dualistic approach in the perspective of the unification of international and national law is difficult today for many reasons. It is noted that conventions regulate certain issues in the areas covered by them and cannot give a comprehensive understanding of the legal status of floating drilling rigs. In addition, national legislation, including Russian, also requires improvements in terms of determining the international legal status of drilling rigs. On the territory of Russian Federation floating drilling rigs are classified as sea vessels; however, if they are moved across the border, the rigs acquire the status of "goods" and are transported as normal cargo. The Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union also does not make it possible to apply a dualistic approach to determining the legal status of drilling rigs and classify them as vehicles of international transportation, which can greatly simplify the procedure for moving such a category of objects as drilling rigs across the Russian border.
References
1. Proclamation 2667: Policy of the United States With Respect to the Natural Resources of the Subsoil and Sea Bed of the Continental Shelf. – URL: https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/150/proclamation-2667-policy-united-states-respe...
2. Abramov N.S., Mezhdunarodno-pravovoy rezhim morskikh neftegazovykh platform (International legal regime of offshore oil and gas platforms): thesis of candidat of legal sciences, Moscow, 2017.
3. Danil'tsev M.A., International legal status of the floating drill rigs (In Russ.), Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Seriya 14. Pravo, 2011, no. 4, pp. 76–80.
