© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo – (Aug. 19) – Chicago-based global law firm Mayer Brown recently announced energy M&A expert Thomas Moore left his practice at a leading Texas-based energy firm for its Houston office.
Moore is the second former Baker Botts lawyer to join the approximately 60-lawyer office as a partner this summer. Mike Lennon, a disputes lawyer, also focuses on the energy sector.
“Mayer Brown has expertise and experience in the energy area that matches that of many of the firms which are thought of as the leading energy firms,” the two lawyers jointly said in a written statement to The Texas Lawbook. “Brand aside, it is at least as important for us to be with a firm that has the expertise and has a strong international presence than to be with a firm that has more name recognition as an energy firm but can’t match Mayer Brown’s international presence.
“Both Baker Botts and Vinson & Elkins are superb energy firms, but as the energy industry has become more international, law firms have to follow suit, and it is very hard to develop the 200-plus-lawyer London office and the 300-plus Asia-based lawyers that Mayer Brown has.”
Moore has advised on a variety of energy projects worldwide, including LNG projects in the U.S. and Africa, petrochemical plants in the Middle East and gas fired generation facilities. Additionally, he has represented Chinese and Korean state and investor owned oil companies in acquisitions in Africa, Asia, South America and the U.S.
“Tom’s arrival further enhances Mayer Brown’s reputation as a firm focused on handling significant oil and gas matters in Houston, the hub of the global oil and gas business,” Neil Wasserstrom, partner-in-charge of Mayer Brown’s Houston office, said in a statement.
Most recently, Moore represented Houston-based Harvest Natural Resources in the sale of its Venezuelan assets to Argentina-based Pluspetrol for $400 million. He said the political turmoil in Venezuela made the transaction interesting.
In another deal, he represented United Energy Group, a Hong Kong-listed Chinese oil company, in the acquisition of BP’s assets in Pakistan to create the fourth largest Chinese oil and gas company.
“This transaction is interesting because it shows the expansion into the international arena by non-state owned Chinese energy companies,” he said. “I expect to see more Chinese private wealth be invested in energy assets outside of China.”
Both Moore and Lennon stressed the need for infrastructure investment to complete the shale revolution.
Moore said “the production capability in areas like the Bakken and elsewhere has overtaken the pipeline and other midstream capacity necessary to efficiently move the production to markets and refineries that are designed to refine a lighter crude.” He suggests an expansion of the in-the-field midstream infrastructure and major investment in pipelines and refineries to make the “revolution” work.
Lennon says the growth of shale gas production and the financial challenges in Europe have “already begun to cause dislocations in supply and demand that have led buyers seeking price reductions under price renegotiation clauses in their supply agreements.” He said a number of these cases have gone to arbitration, with buyers achieving some success.
When asked if any more mega-deals like the Kinder Morgan consolidation were on the horizon, Moore said he believes the “consolidation is more a move away from tax driven investments than anything else.”
With the consolidation, Moore says Kinder Morgan will be able to invest in a broader array of assets, and it will be able to focus more on long-term value growth than the stable cash flow, which is necessary to attract capital to an MLP.
“It will be interesting to see whether other MLP sponsors will follow suit, since in order to be successful, an MLP needs to be able to continue to add assets, and the assets that are attractive for an MLP are already trading at high multiples,” he said.
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