Shahid Law Firm is among the leading legal players in the oil and gas and mineral resources sector in Egypt. Our effective practice draws from our long-standing expertise in the evolving Egyptian legal and regulatory frameworks, along with our acute understanding of the dynamics of the industry, our practical understanding of concession agreements, corporate matters and our solid experience in dispute resolution in Egypt. Through this, Shahid Law Firm is able to provide companies with unparalleled legal insights and guidance from the inception of their projects right to their completion.
Over the past decades, we have successfully grown our Oil & Gas and Mineral Resources practices into a focused team of highly skilled lawyers with exceptional industry insight and in-depth knowledge of sector trends and developments, both locally and regionally. Some of the areas we are regularly involved in include assisting Oil & Gas companies in understanding the legal canvas, negotiations with potential and existing business partners and ministries in Egypt, as well as managing disputes between international oil and gas and petrochemical companies and Egyptian governmental entities. Clients have been relying on our insightful and timely advice for many years in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors.
Our client list comprises primarily international exploration and production companies, petrochemical companies, as well as international civil engineering firms, transportation services companies, ministries, and donor agencies.
We also assist our clients, through our wide network of local connections, in finding the best business, technical, and financing partners to develop their projects. Shahid Law Firm provides legal advice on matters of Egyptian law in relation to the sale and unitization of oil and gas fields, the indirect assignment of rights under concession agreements, pre-emption rights, and matters of cost recovery and anti-trust notifications, whether domestic or regional.
Shahid Law Firm frequently assists clients on time-sensitive matters as part of crises management efforts. The Firm also advises several IOCs such as BG Group, Edison, Eni S.p.A. and its subsidiary IEOC, Vegas Oil and Gas and others on day-to-day concession and commercial matters.
- Assisting oil and gas companies in understanding the legal canvas in Egypt;
- Negotiating with potential and existing business partners and ministries in Egypt;
- Representing companies in the management of disputes between international oil and gas and petrochemical companies and Egyptian government entities;
- Representing international companies before various authorities handling the necessary regulatory procedures, as well as managing disputes between them;
- Providing legal advice on matters of Egyptian law in relation to the sale and unitization of oil and gas fields, the direct and indirect assignment of rights under concession agreements, pre-emption rights, and matters of cost recovery and anti-trust notifications;
- Crisis management
- Drafting agreements, including service, sales, concession, farm-in/out, and joint venture/ operating agreements;
- Financings and M&A transactions focused on the oil & gas industry; and
- Regulatory advice and administrative proceedings.
- Advising Scatec Solar on the issuance of a bid bond in relation to the tendering process to Build Own and Operate solar PV power project of a 200MW in Kom Ombo (Egypt) valued at USD 4 Million.
- Representing EDF International Networks in the negotiations with Egypt’s state-run New Administrative Capital Company for Urban Development (ACUD) for the entry into a joint venture for electricity distribution in the new capital.
- Advising New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), alongside PwC and Eversheds, in connection with the development of a 200MW wind farm project in the Gulf of Suez with UAE company Masdar.
- Acting as legal counsel to an Egyptian company specialized in the transmission of natural gas regarding its agreement with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) for the transmission of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial areas and power stations.
- Assisting a major renewable energy company in establishing a facility for the production and use of green hydrogen at Sidi Barani Port (Alexandria, Egypt).
- Assisting one of the major Greek shipping and trading companies in implementing a project relating to the bunkering and exportation of green ammonia as well as the bunkering of LNG at Port Said Port.
- Advising one of the largest private sector energy distribution companies in Egypt in purchasing several gas stations across the country. As such, the Firm has conducted a legal audit on the target by steering a full-fledged due diligence investigation including Food safety registration, building permits, cameras approval, civil defense approval, EGPC approval, advertisement agreements if any, lease agreements, among others.
- Advising BG Group on the development of a new cross-border pipeline from Israel to Egypt to allow gas from the Leviathan field offshore Israel to be liquefied in an Egyptian LNG facility.
- Advising a US Based Investment Fund on the contemplated bid process for the acquisition of Shell’s Divestment of its onshore assets/interests in fifteen (15) onshore Concession Agreements, and twenty-two (22) related Development Leases and Exploration Blocks in Western Desert (including the Badr El-Din and Obaiyed area).
- Representing a Norwegian Oil and Gas company in the bidding process for the acquisition of a 50% share in an existing oil concession.
- Advising Edison in relation to the unitisation of one of its producing oil fields in Egypt, and in the large midstream facilities’ sharing operation comprising the transfer by BG Group and Edison of the right of use of Rosetta onshore facilities to BP and RWE, as of mid- 2016; and also providing legal advice and continuing to represent client in the acquisition of additional concessional interests.
- Advising Novatek, the largest independent natural gas producer in Russia, on the acquisition of a well-established upstream petroleum company operating in the Western Desert of Egypt.
- Advising Sandvik, an international company in the oil and gas sector, on Egyptian regulatory requirements related to its divestiture of the majority of Drilling and Completions (Varel). The transaction triggers a write-down of goodwill and other intangible assets in the estimated amount of USD 3,900 million SEK (USD 400 million), to be reported in Sandvik’s financial statements.
- Advising Varel Egypt, subsidiary of Varel International, one of the world’s largest drill bit companies serving clients in the oil & gas and mining industries, on a combined debt and capital restructuring plan to its local companies while obtaining necessary local regulatory clearances.
- Representing a Canadian upstream Oil & Gas company in two CRCICA arbitrations arising out of contract for the provision of drilling and overwork rig.
- Conducting legal due diligence on oil and gas interests in Egypt owned by a Cypriot and a Croatian oil and gas companies.
- Advising the international oil and gas services provider Halliburton on the divestment of part of its business in connection with its USD 28 billion merger with Baker Hughes, notably on the transfer of explosives and radioactive materials’ licenses. The deal was called off later as it encountered opposition from American regulators over anti-competition concerns.
- Advising Vegas Oil & Gas S.A. in the multi-million-dollar sale to a Chinese company of certain assets of the independent oil and gas exploration and production group in Egypt, particularly with respect to the unitization of oil and gas fields, the indirect assignment of rights under a concession agreement, matters of cost recovery and anti-trust notifications.
- Providing day-to-day legal services for various Fortune 500 Oil and Gas companies on retainer or secondment basis.
- Acting for PTT Energy Resources Company Limited (PTTER) in a first-of-its-kind investment USD 1 billion treaty claim brought before Cairo’s Administrative Court, the claim is based entirely on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
- Acting as local co-counsel for one of the IOCs in connection with the acquisition of a substantial interest in the Al-Zohr Oil Field, which, if closed, would have possibly been the largest oil and gas-related acquisition in the region.
- Acting as co-counsel for East Mediterranean Gas and a significant number of its shareholders in a major international oil and gas dispute against the Arab Republic of Egypt and various State entities in a complex multi-billion-dollar arbitration cluster before ICSID, ICC, CRCICA UNCITRAL, and PCA.
- Representing IEOC, a subsidiary of ENI, in the arbitration case filed by its employees on the grounds of laws and regulations applicable to employees’ profit-sharing schemes in general and in the oil and gas field in particular and filing challenges before the Egyptian Constitutional Court.
- Advising Shell on the issue of payment of assignment bonus at the exit of a contractor under a concession agreement for the exploration of oil and gas in Egypt during the exploration phase.
