Chris Peponis advises clients on project development and transactions across the energy and infrastructure sectors, including:

  • Liquefied natural gas (LNG), including small-scale LNG
  • Gas-to-power
  • Gas pipelines
  • Biodiesel
  • Petrochemicals
  • Natural gas liquids (NGLs)
  • Hydrogen
  • Renewable power generation
  • Shipping

He leverages extensive global LNG and maritime experience and a background in chemical engineering to help clients navigate greenfield and brownfield LNG liquefaction projects, floating liquefaction, and onshore and offshore (floating storage unit (FSU) and floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU)) regasification terminals.

Before joining Latham, Chris worked as a catalytic cracking and hydrofluoric acid alkylation process engineer, commodity trader, and in-house counsel for Shell, in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the US.

Chris’ experience includes representing:

  • NextDecade with respect to the US$18.9 billion equity and debt financing, and project structuring of the first three liquefaction trains of its multi-train Rio Grande LNG facility near Brownsville, Texas, and the further development and financing and refinancing of the Rio Grande LNG facility and related CCS projects
  • Buckeye Partners in the acquisition of Bear Head Energy, Inc., which is developing a large-scale green hydrogen and ammonia production, storage, and export project in Point Tupper, Nova Scotia, with hydrogen electrolyzer capacity of over two gigawatts
  • Fortescue Future Industries on its acquisition and subsequent development of Phoenix Hydrogen Hub, owner of a proposed green hydrogen project located near Phoenix, Arizona
  • Delfin Midstream with respect to the equity and debt financing of the Delfin LNG multi-vessel floating LNG project 
  • ConocoPhillips on a strategic partnership with Sempra that included: a 20-year Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) for five million tons per annum (Mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Phase One of the proposed Port Arthur LNG project under development in Jefferson County, Texas; the acquisition by Conoco of 30% of the equity in Phase One of the project; and gas arrangements for ConocoPhillips to manage all feed gas supply requirements for Phase One of the project
  • Delfin LNG in developing a floating LNG terminal off the US Gulf Coast, including equity structuring, construction, and financing
  • AlphaStruxure, a joint venture between Schneider Electric and Carlyle Group, in its Integrated Fleet Electrification Infrastructure Project, a first-of-its-kind energy-as-a-service (EaaS) fleet electrification project, to support a growing bus electric bus fleet in Montgomery County, Maryland, enabling at least 44 buses in Ride On Montgomery County’s fleet to transition from diesel to electric
  • Chevron (formerly Noble Energy) in a major gas monetization project in Equatorial Guinea involving negotiating gas processing and LNG tolling agreements, LNG marketing arrangements, agreements with the Government of Equatorial Guinea, and upstream agreements for the development and transportation of gas to gas processing and LNG plants
  • FortisBC in drafting tolling and offtake arrangements for its proposed expansion of the Tilbury LNG Facility in British Columbia, Canada, including the construction of a new storage tank that can hold up to 142,400 cubic meters of LNG, which would more than double the facility’s current storage capacity, and a new liquefaction train with capacity of up to 2.5 million tons per year to produce LNG for marine fueling or overseas export 
  • GreenStruxure, a joint venture of Schneider Electric and Huck Capital, on developing a strategic partnership with ClearGen, a Blackstone portfolio company, whereby ClearGen will provide US$500 million in long-term capital to GreenStruxure to develop, operate, and maintain on-site renewable energy microgrid systems
  • Invenergy and its project subsidiary Energia del Pacifico on the development and project financing of the 378 MW LNG-to-power infrastructure project at the Port of Acajutla in El Salvador, in the largest foreign direct investment in the country to date, requiring an investment of approximately US$1 billion; the project includes a thermal power plant and a marine terminal that consists of a FSRU permanently moored through a modified-spread mooring system, a long-term LNG supply contract for the FSRU, a natural gas pipeline that will run from the FSRU to the power plant, and the construction of a transmission line and related substations to connect the power plant to El Salvador’s electrical grid of El Salvador
  • An investment-bank-backed portfolio company on negotiating and structuring its investments into LNG-to-power projects across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, as well as on drafting and negotiating all material project documents
  • A project sponsor on drafting and negotiating all material project documents for a proposed gas-to-gasoline plant, including feedstock supply, pipeline precedent and transportation agreements, product offtake agreements (including hydrogen and low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) hydrocarbons), and utilities arrangements (including power purchase agreements) 
  • Triten Energy Partners — a Houston, Texas, energy and oil company specializing in renewable/LCFS-producing downstream infrastructure projects — in securing a US$150 million equity commitment from Tailwater Capital LLC, an energy-focused private equity firm based in Dallas, Texas
  • Vitol in connection with LNG master services agreements and LNG sales and purchase agreements (SPAs), including the LNG SPA with Tellurian for 3 million tons per year on a free-on-board basis at Driftwood LNG for a 10-year term, valued at about US$12 billion in revenue over 10 years and indexed to a combination of two indices: the Japan Korea Marker and the Dutch Title Transfer Facility, each netted back for transportation charges

The experience listed above includes matters handled prior to joining Latham.

Bar Qualification

  • Alberta
  • Texas

Education

  • LLM, Stanford University
  • JD, University of Sydney
  • BS, University of Sydney