Upstream

Upstream

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Energy security will continue to be a driving force for generations to come. Oil, gas and liquid fuels will continue to dominate as the world’s largest energy source. But the oil and gas industry must improve technologies to economically unlock resources in geographies and geological structures that only a few years ago were not commercially viable. Today, conventional resources are being found in previously inaccessible, expensive sites. Development of oil sands, tight oil and shale gas are adding significantly to the world’s reserves.

Dentons has over 80 years of experience acting for national oil companies, international oil companies, independents and startups, as well as oil and gas service companies and service providers. With Dentons you get a dedicated team of lawyers, true specialists in oil and gas, with decades of experience dealing with multiple partners, cultures, languages, geographies and national and local governments. We can advise you on the full cycle of oil and gas development from exploration, production, and transportation to refining, marketing and distribution. We have extensive experience with oil and gas concessions, including:

License-based regimes
Production sharing contracts
Risk service arrangements
Buy-back agreements
Joint ventures
Leasing and other arrangements.

Our team can advise you on establishing upstream regimes, granting concessions, acquiring new assets through farm-ins and corporate transactions, restructuring asset portfolios, financing using asset-backed and other structures, and constructing and implementing upstream projects.

We advise operators and non-operators on operating and unitization agreements, addressing liability regimes, cost-sharing mechanisms, budgetary and business planning procedures and sole risk arrangements. Our expertise encompasses pipeline-related agreements, including crossing agreements, transportation, allocation, construction and joint marketing arrangements. We can also offer expertise in dealing with oil and gas reserves that cross national boundaries or lie in disputed boundary areas. Benefit from our in-depth industry knowledge including the specialist, local law knowledge we can provide you with in many of the world’s hydrocarbon provinces.

Look to Dentons to give you a competitive business advantage for any type of oil and gas project, anywhere in the world.

Experience

Borders and Southern: Advising on its drilling campaign in the Falklands.
BP Canada: Advising on the sale of Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) business to Plains Midstream Canada ULC, a wholly owned subsidiary, for CA$1.67 billion. This is the most recent of several billion-dollar-plus transactions where Dentons has partnered with BP. The NGL business owns, operates and has contractual rights to a wide range of assets from both production and distribution functions, from extraction though to wholesale distribution of NGL products across Canada and in the Midwest United States.
BP Canada Energy Company: Advising on a transaction where Devon NEC Corporation (Devon) acquired a 50% interest in BP's Pike oil sands properties for consideration of CA$650 million. BP and Devon entered into a joint venture agreement for the development of those properties, which will be operated by Devon.
GeoPark Holdings Ltd: Advising an AIM-list oil company operating in Latin America, in negotiating a $140 million investment by LG International (in two tranches), representing the first Korean investment in the oil industry in Chile.
Lukoil: Africa is one of the world's most exciting emerging markets. We have a presence in 21 African countries as well as dedicated Africa energy lawyers based outside of the continent. This formula has delivered a track record of success right across Africa. As a result of this track record in Africa Dentons was instructed by Lukoil Overseas (Lukoil) to advise on various prospective upstream and corporate transactions in West and Central Africa. Dentons worked closely with its associate offices to provide jurisdiction specific advice in order to assist Lukoil with its strategically important African investment opportunities.
ONGC Videsh: East Africa has drawn significant attention from the global oil and gas sector as a result of recent announcements made on large volume gas fields off the coast of Tanzania, Mozambique and Kenya. Amidst these discoveries, Cove Energy plc (Cove Energy), an AIM-traded public company with a stake in a large gas field in offshore Mozambique, put itself up for sale by way of a competitive auction process in January 2012. The sale attracted great interest from potential bidders, including a consortium led by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL). As a result of its proven track record in the oil and gas sector and M&A experience in Mozambique, SNR Denton was picked to advise OVL on its participation in the Cove Energy sale process.

Dentons was responsible for conducting the Phase I legal due diligence into Cove Energy's Mozambique, Kenyan and Tanzanian assets, identifying the key concerns for OVL as a potential bidder in a takeover of Cove Energy. Working closely together with its associate offices in Mozambique and Kenya, Dentons advised on issues including local regulatory law, competition law, contractual provisions under joint operating agreements, exploration and production concession contracts, farm-out agreements and corporate law.
RWE Dea: It is a commonly held view amongst industry commentators that the Caspian Sea region will play a crucial role in future security of supply to the European energy market. Recognising this, RWE have become a market leader in the region, and in 2009 acquired a licence block covering an area of over 900km2

RWE Dea have been developing this asset ever since, and as a full service energy law firm, Dentons have assisted this development at every turn by deploying experts across a variety of sectors ranging from oil and gas lawyers to procurement specialists, liaising with our professionals on the ground in Central Asia to offer an unrivalled combination of both industry expertise and local knowledge.

RWE Dea are now looking to monetise their asset, and the drilling of one exploration well is planned for 2013. As a result, RWE Dea once again decided to contact Dentons' market leading Oil and Gas team.

Drilling rigs are in short supply the world over, and are becoming more expensive by the day. However with RWE Dea’s vision and the expertise and industry knowledge of Dentons, we are advising on a rig sharing agreement and drilling contracts that will provide RWE Dea with the most efficient and cost effective access to drilling assets. Minimising risk and maximising value.
Sasol Petroleum International: Advising on the CA$1.05 billion acquisition of a 50 percent working interest in Talisman Energy Inc.’s (Talisman) Farrell Creek shale gas assets in the Montney Basin area of northeastern British Columbia, a subsequent transaction with Talisman for similar consideration of CA$1.05 billion, which expanded Sasol’s gas reserves in the area, with a view to the further development of a gas-to-liquids plant to be located in Canada and to serve the North American liquid fuels markets.

Insights

Nigerian Oil and Gas and the “7 Big Wins”: Rhetoric or Matter-of-Fact

May 30, 2017

Dentons would like to thank Kemi Segun, from ACAS Law in Nigeria, for this month’s contribution to the Africa section of the Dentons South Africa Newsletter. In this article, Kemi discusses the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

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