George John Venables

George’s experience includes representing:

Energy M&A

• Chevron on the disposal of its UK North Sea upstream business, comprising interests in 11 fields, through the sale of Chevron North Sea Limited to Ithaca Energy 
• EIG Global Energy Partners on the acquisition of a 25% equity interest stake in Repsol Upstream, a newly formed global oil and gas exploration and production company which will house Repsol’s entire global upstream oil and gas portfolio, for US$4.8 billion and the associated joint venture arrangements
• Chevron on the sale of its 40% stake in Nigerian oil and gas assets OML 86 and 88
• Chevron on the sale of its 40% stake in Rosebank, an oilfield located in the UK North Sea 80 miles north-west of the Shetland Islands, to Equinor UK
• ExxonMobil on the disposal of material Nigerian oil and gas assets through the sale of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to Seplat Energy
• A confidential client on its aborted sale of upstream and midstream assets located in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon 
• Navitas Petroleum on its acquisition of a 65% stake in the Sea Lion project, an oil field located offshore of the Falkland Islands, via: (i) the share acquisition of Premier Oil Exploration and Production Ltd from Harbour Energy, and (ii) the asset acquisition of participating interests in the field from Rockhopper Exploration PLC
• ExxonMobil on the disposal of upstream and midstream assets located in Chad and Cameroon, including its interest in the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, to Savannah Energy
• The Carlyle Group on its acquisition from Occidental Petroleum of its onshore assets in Colombia for total consideration of approximately US$825 million
• Sonangol on the sale of Angolan assets to Sinopec
• Glencore on its acquisition of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) business of Orsted A/S, involving the acquisition of LNG supply contracts and the right to use 3bcm of annual LNG regasification capacity at the Gate terminal until 2031
• The Carlyle Group on the acquisition of an additional 33% equity interest in VARO Energy, a leading energy transition focused downstream businesses in North West Europe, from Reggeborgh
• Chevron on the acquisition of the Escravos gas-to-liquids plant in Nigeria of Sasol
• Iberdrola on the sale of a 40% equity interest in the East Anglia One windfarm business to GIG and the associated joint venture arrangements
• BP on its acquisition of a majority working interest, including operatorship, in the Greater Tortue gasfield, offshore Senegal, and Mauritania*
• E.ON SE in relation to the sale of its shares in its UK E&P upstream assets comprising over 80 licences in the West of Shetland, Southern, and Central North Sea to Premier Oil and acting as English counsel on the sale of E.ON’s Norwegian E&P business to LetterOne for US$1.6 billion*
• Antin Infrastructure Partners on its acquisition of BP's 36.22% stake in the Central Area Transmission System (CATS) network in the UK North Sea*
• Kerogen on its acquisition by share subscription of an approximate 28% equity interest in IGas plc, an onshore oil and gas exploration and production company in the UK*
• Neptune Energy on the acquisition from Eni of a number of interests offshore Indonesia (for the East and West Ganal fields and the East Sepinggan field)*
• Woodside Energy on its farm-in to Impact's interests in the AGC Profond block offshore Senegal and Guinea­Bissau*
• Woodside Energy on its farm-in to Chariot’s interests in the Rabat Deep block offshore Morocco and subsequently on arrangements relating to Eni’s entry and ongoing joint venture advice*
• BP on its acquisition of additional interests in the US$12 billion West Nile Delta gas field, offshore Egypt from Deal*
• Trident Energy on its acquisition, with Kosmos Energy, of an 80.75% participating interest in the Ceiba field and Okume Complex assets offshore Equatorial Guinea*

Other M&A

• A confidential client on its aborted acquisition of a UK sports media business

Restructuring

• Tullow Oil on the refinancing of its US$2.4 billion debt (including a reserve-based lending facility, listed English law convertible notes, and senior unsecured notes) through the issuance of US$1.8 billion senior secured notes due 2026 and entry into a US$600 million super senior revolving credit facility due 2024
• SierraCol Energy on its debut bond offering of US$600 million 6.000% Senior Notes due 2028 
• The coordinating committee of secured lenders on the restructuring of EnQuest PLC, the largest independent oil producer in the UK North Sea*
• The lenders and then the administrators on First Oil's financial restructuring (involving the sale of UK North Sea assets owned by First Oil to Zennor, Enquest, and Cairn)*

Financings

• The lenders to ITG Sàrl on the financing of its acquisition of a significant part of Puma Energy’s infrastructure and storage business
• The lenders to a confidential client on aspects of its bid to acquire DONG’s portfolio of North Sea assets, including Danish, Norwegian, and UK licences* 
• The lenders on corporate aspects of a US$2 billion reserve-based lending facility to finance the proposed US$3.9 billion acquisition by Neptune Energy of EPI, Engie’s exploration and production business*

Other

• BP on its development of the Greater Tortue gasfield, offshore Senegal and Mauritania, through a floating LNG project, including advising on the arrangement for the FLNG vessel and marketing of all volumes of LNG produced from the project*
• Vitol SA on the project finance and commercial aspects of developing its US$7 billion oil and gas project in Ghana with ENI*
• KOGAS on the multi-billion dollar Rovuma Basin LNG and upstream gas project in Mozambique, including on aspects of its 10% interest in the proposed Coral FLNG project*
• Ophir Energy on its proposed floating LNG project in Equatorial Guinea*
• BP Azerbaijan on the US$11.8 billion TANAP pipeline to export gas from Shah Deniz Phase II in Azerbaijan*
• Tullow, as shareholder, on the financing and development of its Kenyan upstream assets and the Kenya Pipeline, a crude-oil pipeline to export the crude oil from Kenya*
• EDF Energy, including on secondment, on the development of new nuclear generating stations in the UK, including financing, corporate, and regulatory advice and on its four joint ventures for nuclear new build with a Chinese consortium led by China Guandong Nuclear (CGN) comprising:
  • The EDF/CGN Hinkley Point C construction phase project, which will be the first nuclear power plant in the UK for a generation. The project will involve the construction of two European Pressurised Reactors with a combined nameplate capacity of 3.2GW and will supply 7% of the UK’s electricity needs*
  • The EDF/CGN Sizewell C development phase project*
  • The CGN/EDF Bradwell B development phase project*
  • The CGN/EDF joint venture for the adaptation of the Chinese Hualong nuclear technology for deployment in the UK*

*Matter handled prior to joining Latham.