Inflation Reduction Act
A new regime for Nigerian upstream royalty rates
What has happened? Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has taken the final steps to pass a new law amending the country’s upstream royalty rates applying to offshore and certain inland areas. The Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts (Amendment)...
Final Rule Imposes Expansive New Requirements for Liquid Pipelines
PHMSA recently finalized a rule that significantly revises certain aspects of liquid pipeline safety regulation under 49 CFR Part 195. Nearly nine years in the making, the final rule is intended to address PHMSA and NTSB accident investigation findings from...
PHMSA Updates its Latest Enforcement Tool: Emergency Order Final Rule
On October 1, 2019, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA or the Agency) issued three long awaited final rules . This post addresses the Agency’s final rule on Emergency Orders , a significant new tool in PHMSA’s pipeline...
Integrated Exploration and Extraction Service Contracts: the new model to be used by Pemex to reactivate fields and increase production
The 2019-2023 Business Plan for Pemex and its Subsidiaries (the “Business Plan”) provides that Pemex aims to promote partnerships between the public and the private sectors under a risk-sharing scenario that expects to achieve optimal exploitation and increase crude oil...
PHMSA Publishes Long-Awaited Final Rules
Tomorrow’s Federal Register will include three final rules published by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) that have been years in the making: (1) Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines: Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure Reconfirmation, Expansion of Assessment Requirements...
LNG in Europe: Current Trends, the European LNG Landscape and Country Focus
Overview This article provides an overview of current trends in the European LNG market, describes the status of the pan-Europe LNG landscape, and looks at recent activities in individual European LNG-importing countries. Current Trends in the European LNG Market Growth...
EPA Repeals Obama Rule Defining Waters of the U.S.
On Thursday, September 12, EPA General Counsel Matt Leopold announced EPA’s final rule repealing the 2015 Waters of the United States (“WOTUS”) Rule. Significantly, General Counsel Leopold did not announce the final replacement WOTUS Rule, which was proposed in February...
Mexico's Agenda for 2020 in Energy and Infrastructure
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's president recently issued the general criteria of economic policy for the country's 2020 annual budget. The document describes several undertakings to trigger economic growth in Mexico in the upcoming year. One of the main items...
The end of LIBOR: The search for a new benchmark interest rate for Project Agreements
Often referred to as “the world’s most important number”, the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is used as the reference interest rate for a range of commercial and financial contracts worth hundreds of trillions of dollars globally. Partly as a...
Pipelaws Team Authors Article on the Pipeline Safety Act for Law360
Pipeline partners Catherine Little, Bob Hogfoss and Annie Cook authored an article published in Law360 on the Pipeline Safety Act reauthorization legislation currently in the U.S. House and Senate. The current authorization of federal pipeline safety laws and funding of...
CFTC v. Kraft Dispute Continues with CFTC on Defensive
Following the August 15 2019 public announcement of a settlement between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Kraft Foods Group, Inc./Mondelez Global, LLC (together “Kraft”), the parties appeared on August 19 before the Honorable John Robert Blakey on a...
Long-Awaited CFTC v. Kraft Settlement Resolves Manipulation Allegations
UPDATE: The statements referenced and linked in this post have been removed from the CFTC’s public website in connection with an ongoing dispute . Today the legal battle between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Kraft Foods Group, Inc...
New International AIPN Oil and Gas Farm-Out Agreement
In June 2019, the oil and gas industry body, the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN), published a revised version of its model form international farm-out agreement. The publication of this new model form agreement is a reflection of the...
Battery Storage –Powering Future LNG Projects (including FLNG)
It is undeniable that a low carbon transition is taking place. One of the leading forces of this transition is battery storage. Battery storage technology that was, only a couple of years ago, immature and expensive is now beginning to...
DOT Issues Pipeline Safety Act Reauthorization Proposal
The Department of Transportation (DOT) released a legislative proposal to Congress on June 3, 2019, to reauthorize the federal Pipeline Safety Act (PSA or the Act) and continue funding the federal agency charged with implementing it, the Pipeline and Hazardous...