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Oil, Gas & LNG

Arnold & Porter delivers unparalleled advice to leading market participants in the oil, gas, and LNG sectors. We advise upstream, midstream, and downstream businesses, oilfield service companies, private equity and investment firms, and other industry stakeholders, on a diverse range of complex regulatory, litigation, and transactional matters. Notably, we have been serving as lead environmental counsel to BP in responding to the Deepwater Horizon incident and negotiated the historic settlement of all federal, state, and local claims.

With offices located in key oil and gas hubs around the world, our global team offers:

  • Leading Air Practice: Known for handling the full range of emissions and greenhouse gas issues, our team provides regulatory and compliance counseling, including for permitting requirements, participates in rulemaking activities, and defends against government and citizen enforcement actions.

  • Strategic Litigation Counsel: Our seasoned litigators successfully resolve some of the most potentially contentious and costly matters, including defending against penalties imposed for alleged market manipulation and fraud; prosecuting and defending bet-the-company commercial and trade-secret disputes; high-profile toxic tort class actions; handling shareholder, antitrust, partnership/joint venture, and breach of contract disputes; and resolving disputes stemming from natural gas conveyances and oil and gas royalty valuation issues.

  • Cutting-Edge Transactions: Our corporate lawyers represent leading public oil and gas corporations, private equity and investment firms, and other oil and gas sector participants in complex company mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures; the financing, acquisition, and divestiture of oil and gas assets; public and private debt and equity offerings; the structuring and formation of energy investment funds and vehicles; deployment of investment capital; growth of portfolio companies; and harvesting mature investments.

Experience Highlights

  • BP as primary environmental counsel since 2010 for matters related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We have been core members of BP's virtual legal team; acted as lead counsel to the incident investigation team; managed the economic claims process; defended against citizen action lawsuits; led its Natural Resource Damages (NRD) defense; participated as trial counsel in the Clean Water Act penalty phase; participated in the defense of federal government and foreign state actions; and acted as lead counsel on claims related to federal debarment.

  • ​​​​​​Irving Oil, one of Canada’s top energy companies, in MTBE litigation alleging groundwater contamination in Vermont and Rhode Island.

  • Caerus Oil & Gas in several transactions, including a follow-on equity financing transaction involving Anschutz, Oaktree, and Old Ironsides.

  • ​​​​​​Oil and gas company in completing comprehensive evaluations of the climate in selected US jurisdictions for carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) projects.

  • ​​​​​​Publicly traded oil and gas exploration company as lead trial counsel in a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action involving the classification of drilling consultants on location at well sites.

  • BP in securing FTC clearance of its US$5.6 billion sale of BP's entire business in Alaska, including all of its upstream and midstream businesses in the state, to Hilcorp, the largest private operator in Alaska.

  • Resolute Energy Corporation, an independent oil and gas company, in its US$1.6 billion merger with Cimarex Energy Co., and in numerous capital markets transactions.

  • The Halifax Group in its sale of its equity interests in Taylor Companies LLC, an oil distribution, logistics, and trading company, to Gibson Energy ULC, a leading midstream oil and gas company headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

  • Republic of Peru in multiple investment arbitrations filed at ICSID pursuant to bilateral investment treaties, involving disputes in the oil and gas sector.