© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Houston Fortune 500 Spectra Energy Corp. will participate in a $3 billion joint venture to construct Florida’s third interstate natural gas pipeline.
Spectra’s legal team primarily comes from Vinson & Elkins in Houston, with partners Rell Tipton and Jay Seegers as the lead attorneys. Also assisting are partners John Lynch and Kaam Sahely; associates Sabina Walia and Suzanne Clevenger; and two more associates from the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.
NextEra Energy, Inc. of Juno Beach, Fla. is the other company involved in the joint venture. NextEra’s subsidiary, Florida Power & Light Company, is providing the $3 billion to construct the pipeline.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom represented NextEra. A spokesperson at FPL refused to disclose which law firm represented the company after an inquiry.
The Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC will be 465 miles and extend from Alabama to the Central Florida Hub near Orlando. The pipeline will produce more than one billion cubic feet per day, according to Spectra’s statement.
Bill Yardley, Spectra’s president of U.S. transmission and storage, said in the statement that the Sabal Trail will provide safe, clean burning and affordable natural gas to power Florida’s homes, businesses and economy.
The pipeline is expected to begin operating in May 2017.
This is the second multi-billion energy transaction for V&E in two weeks. The firm also is representing Riverstone Holdings and its subsidiary, Fieldwood Energy, in its $3.75 billion acquisition of Apache Corporation’s Gulf Shelf assets.
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