Energy, Corporate Securities and Joint Venture Structuring Practice
Whether you need help with an acquisition, divestiture or merger, a complex project financing, a reserve base loan, a drilling fund, master service agreements, exploration agreements, a facilities construction contract, an equity or debt offering, or a lawsuit, Porter Hedges has the industry knowledge and legal skill to get the job done. Our clients are engaged in every sector of the energy business, including:
- Exploration and production companies
- Upstream
- Midstream
- Natural gas and oil pipelines, storage developers and providers and processors
- Energy marketers and electrical power generators
- Drilling and oilfield service contractors
- Commodity traders and energy finance providers
Our clients include large publicly traded companies and financial institutions, as well as mid-sized and smaller privately owned companies.
Two things set Porter Hedges apart from many of our competitors. First, we understand the energy business. Many of our energy lawyers are former industry professionals, including petroleum engineers, certified professional landmen, certified public accountants and in-house counsel. Our partners average over twenty years of experience exclusively in the energy industry.
Second, our lawyers give you attentive, efficient, personalized service that reflects their sophisticated industry knowledge. When you call, you receive counsel from an experienced business advisor who knows the help you need and delivers it, time after time.
With a recognized strength in corporate and securities matters in Texas, we can help energy companies with any of their transactional needs: public and private offerings of equity and debt securities, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing, institutional and private placements, leveraged buyouts, and exchange offers.
We work with all the key players, including investment funds, commercial banks, underwriters and placement agents. Porter Hedges brings them together with our energy clients in all phases of capital raising transactions including preparation of the prospectus or offering memorandum, structuring of terms of securities and obtaining clearance from the SEC and other regulatory bodies for:
- Initial public offerings and secondary offerings
- Private placements
- Recapitalizations
- Shelf registration statements
- Rule 144A offerings
- Private placements and venture capital transactions
Representative Matters:
- Represented Petrohawk Energy Corporation (NYSE: HK) in the formation of a 50-50 joint venture with an affiliate of Kinder Morgan, L.P. involving Petrohawk's midstream business in the Haynesville Shale for an aggregate joint venture value of approximately $1.8 billion.
- Counseled Enbridge Pipelines in the sale of oil, gas, and products gathering and transportation systems valued at $110 million.
- Represented the financial advisors to the U.S. Department of Energy in the sale of Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve for $3.5 billion.
- Represented privately and publicly held sellers in the divestiture of $100 million in producing oil and gas properties.
- Represented buyer in acquisition of $120 million producing oil and gas properties in Texas and Louisiana.
- Represented major independent international energy company in gas sales in Cote d'Ivoire.
- Representation of a major oilfield service company in innovative project to satisfy over $40 million dollars of offshore well plugging, abandonment and decommissioning obligations in partially depleted oil and gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Representation of commercial banks in producer financings in excess of $500 million secured by onshore and offshore producing oil and gas properties.
- Representation of major natural gas company in connection with acquisitions, construction and operation of natural gas storage projects in depleted reservoirs, salt domes and other storage matrices, including acquisition of the Katy Gas Storage Facility and numerous start-up facilities.
- Representation of numerous oil and gas exploration companies in establishing and funding joint ventures and partnerships for oil and gas exploration and development projects, both domestic and international.
- Representation of numerous oil and gas producing companies in acquisitions and divestitures of onshore and offshore producing oil and gas properties.
- Representation of oilfield service companies in drafting and negotiating master service contracts.
- Representation of a U.S. exploration company in negotiation of contracts for drilling project in France.
- Representation of mezzanine lenders in connection with more than $375 million in reserve-based credit facilities to fund both acquisition and development activities.
- Representation of both buyers and sellers in connection with the purchase and sale of more than $250 million of producing properties.
- Representation of a major pipeline company in the formation of a joint venture for the development of an eastern corridor natural gas pipeline.
- Assisted Tamarack on a transaction in which Mariner Energy agreed to drill 150 wells on Tamarack leases located in west Texas.
- Advised on a $350 million cash stock election merger between our client Mission Resources and Petrohawk Energy, handling all registration, tax, benefits, financing and shareholder issues.
- Represented a syndicate of underwriters in the initial public offering and follow on offering of Oklahoma-based Bronco Drilling Co., raising over $160 million for the land-based driller.
- Counseled the underwriters in the $83 million IPO of TGC Industries (Tidelands Geophysical), a provider of seismic data acquisition services.
- Represented our client Gexa Energy in its stock merger with Florida Power & Light, which included all related tax and benefits issues—and still handle litigation for Gexa Energy.
- Represented a wholly-owned subsidiary of W&T Offshore in a $1.33 billion merger with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kerr-McGee. The deal made W&T Offshore the third largest company operating in the Gulf of Mexico.
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