Debevoise’s Energy and Natural Resources Team in Europe Has a Long History Advising on High-Stakes Disputes and Business-Shaping Transactions

The firm has experience working with power, oil and gas companies across the full range of their activities, including project delivery and the related infrastructure services.

The team is led by prominent partners whose practices cover multiple disciplines, including mergers and acquisitions, project finance, construction, international dispute resolution, public international law, white collar and regulatory defense, compliance and corporate governance (including sanctions advice and business and human rights), tax and antitrust.

Owing to the international nature of the energy sector, the practice also works closely alongside the firm’s teams in New York, Russia and Asia, ensuring clients benefit from exceptional cross-border and local capability in principal markets. Such wide-ranging capabilities and geographical coverage makes the team a one-stop shop for energy and natural resources companies.

The team is trusted with the industry’s biggest and most sensitive contentious issues. It has a dedicated global Energy Disputes Group, which also advises on investment structuring. The team has an established reputation of achieving highly successful results for clients, including what is one of the largest-ever Bilateral Investment Treaty awards, $1.8 billion ($2.3 billion including interest), for the cancellation of a 30-year oil concession for Occidental Petroleum Company and Occidental Exploration and Production Company.

The European energy team is also comprised of members who have significant prior experience in roles within governments, regulators and NGOs. This means the team is ideally placed to advise clients on their most politically sensitive disputes in the sector, and is adept at negotiating with relevant government bodies. It has particular experience in tax disputes, regulatory interference, expropriation and environmental liabilities.

On the corporate side, the team leverages its impressive capital markets, regulatory and transactional capabilities to advise the world’s biggest energy and natural resources companies in transformational matters. These include providing English and U.S. law advice to European clients, often steering them through innovative transaction structures for the first time, allowing them to access an international investor base and capitalize on global opportunities.