Recognized
by U.S. News
and World Report as a top practice in Oil & Gas Law.
The experienced attorneys of Jones Walker advise oil and gas companies,
pipeline companies, and related businesses in the full range of matters
involving upstream, midstream, and downstream energy concerns. We regularly
handle complex energy transactions, help ensure regulatory compliance and
resolution of conflicts with federal and state agencies, provide government
relations services, and represent clients in all forms of industry-related
disputes and litigation. We have particular experience in matters involving
emerging technologies such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking), deepwater
exploration and production, and shale plays, including the Haynesville Shale
and Eagle Ford plays.
We provide cradle-through-operations counsel to operators, non-operators,
pipelines, power plant operators, service companies, seismic companies and
other businesses in connection with the primary activities of oil, gas, and
other natural resource production, including exploration, development,
operation, and distribution. Our real estate lawyers have years of experience
issuing title opinions involving producing property interests and advise
clients in connection with the location and relocation of facilities,
acquisition and release of surface and mineral rights, and other real estate
development matters.
From a transactional perspective, we counsel oil and gas companies and
investors on all aspects of mergers, acquisitions, and sales of assets and
equity, as well as the formation of partnerships, limited partnerships, joint
ventures, limited liability companies (LLCs) and other entities. Our corporate
attorneys routinely negotiate exploration, drilling, production, sales,
transportation, processing, and other agreements, and provide guidance on
leasing, assignments, pooling, and unitizations. We also represent lenders and
borrowers in the full range of project financing and other debt transactions.
When disputes arise, whether with regulators, vendors, customers, investors and
others, we provide effective counsel and representation in courtrooms, in
arbitration, and before regulatory agencies across the country. We have
developed and maintained longstanding relationships with federal and state
regulatory agencies and officials. As a result, our clients often benefit from
our ability to present their concerns as legitimate and of value to the
industry and the economy. Our team includes lawyers who previously served in
senior roles in government agencies and the U.S. Congress, including a former
commissioner of the Louisiana Office of Conservation, former general counsel
for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, former assistant secretary
of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, former secretary of the
Louisiana Mineral and Energy Board, former assistant secretary for the
Louisiana Department of Revenue, former United States Coast Guard Liaison to
the U.S. Senate, former attorney for the Environmental Protection agency, and
former attorney for the United States Corps of Engineers.
Oil & Gas: Upstream
Jones Walker has years of experience representing participants in the upstream
sector of the oil and gas industry, from landowners to major international
petroleum companies. Our coordinated energy team draws from each of the firm's
core practice areas to advise clients on issues that arise throughout upstream
energy development, extraction and distribution activities.
Our counseling and litigation services include title examinations and mineral
lease acquisitions; assignments, subleases, and operating agreements; water
acquisition and related agreements; lease maintenance disputes;
unitization-related disputes; royalty payment and affiliate transaction
disputes; toxic tort and environmental actions arising out of operations and
involving alleged personal and property damage; and enforcement actions arising
out of operations. We have developed specific experience and best practices in
the representation of oil and gas clients with respect to new shale plays, such
as the Haynesville and Eagle Ford plays.
Oil & Gas: Midstream
The
midstream sector of the energy industry is high-paced, dynamic, and complex. It
presents a challenging legal environment that requires lawyers with equal
measures of experience, initiative, and creativity. The energy attorneys of
Jones Walker draw on their long history in this industry and close ties with
members of our environmental, litigation, business, and regulatory practices to
provide sophisticated counsel in a broad range of matters relating to the
development, transportation, storage, and marketing of oil and gas. This
team-oriented approach enables us to provide complete, integrated guidance in
all facets of midstream energy law and dispute resolution.
Jones
Walker attorneys regularly represent clients in midstream transactions and
litigation matters valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Our list of
client engagements includes acquisitions and divestitures of gathering systems,
processing facilities, and interstate and intrastate pipelines; financing,
construction, development, and permitting of interstate and intrastate
pipelines and natural gas storage facilities; tax matters involving publicly
traded master limited partnerships; pipeline condemnations, legacy litigation,
and environmental damage litigation; and title reviews, mineral title opinions,
and reviews of title policies.
Our lawyers have represented clients in high-profile transactions and
litigation that have set new standards for the midstream energy industry. For
example, we have been actively involved in the Haynesville Shale play for many
of our processing, transportation, and storage facility clients, and acted as
lead counsel in successfully challenging the Department of Interior's
imposition of the moratorium on the deep-water drilling following the Deepwater
Horizon blowout and subsequent oil spill.
Oil &
Gas: Downstream
Jones
Walker lawyers represent clients with extensive downstream oil and gas
operations, including refining, distribution, and marketing. We have advised
natural gas transportation and storage companies, gas processors, pipeline
owners, utilities, manufacturers of parts, materials and equipment, and
franchisees in a broad range of environmental, real estate, regulatory, tax,
and transactional matters, as well as in litigation and resolution of disputes
with private parties and government regulators.
Our
transactional team regularly advises companies on the drafting and negotiation
of key contracts, including agreements involving operations and maintenance,
processing, tolling, joint facilities use, co-generation projects, employment,
franchises, services, sales, title insurance, and other commercial contracts.
We counsel midstream clients on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and joint
ventures, and conduct related due diligence, and advise on the creation of
limited partnerships and master limited partnerships.
Our energy litigators have represented
downstream oil and gas companies in disputes across the Southeast and the
United States. Recent successful engagements include representing major
pipeline clients in numerous pipeline condemnation actions in support of the
companies' construction interstate pipelines, and prosecution of a case in
which our client sought more than $75 million in damages based on defective
steel pipes used in the construction of oil pipelines.
