Quadrant Chambers held its 4th Annual Energy Disputes Event on 3 April: Current Challenges and Risks for Oil and Gas

This year our panel included Sarah Roach, senior counsel at BP, Elisabeth Sullivan, senior legal counsel at Centrica, Sue Millar, partner, Stephenson Harwood, Chris Smith QC and Gemma Morgan of Quadrant. Simon Rainey QC chairing proceedings.

To view a recording, please see below:

They considered the following:

• Demand v Emissions: The Dual Challenge – Sarah Roach, BP
• Working with private equity in oil & gas: an operators’ perspective – Elisabeth Sullivan, Centrica
• Sanctions: where are we now and what’s next? – Sue Millar, Stephenson Harwood
• The Risky Business of Declaring Force Majeure: lessons learned from Seadrill Ghana Operations Limited v Tullow Ghana Limited – Gemma Morgan, Quadrant Chambers
• Making it count – compliance with contractual notification regimes – Chris Smith QC, Quadrant Chambers

Our thanks go to Stephenson Harwood, who generously provided the venue for this year's event. 

Programme:
 

Demand v Emissions: The Dual Challenge – Sarah Roach, BP

One of the most topical challenges facing energy companies at the moment is the dual challenge: the growth in world demand for energy coupled with the need to produce and deliver that energy with fewer emissions. Sarah Roach will talk about this energy transition, and the emerging threat of climate change litigation.    

Working with private equity in oil & gas: an operators’ perspective – Elisabeth Sullivan, Centrica

Elisabeth Sullivan will draw on her experience working on recent transactions with private equity backed counterparties. She will consider how PE entrants to the North Sea are impacting industry standard risk allocation in commercial negotiations and what issues this might raise for operators and other stakeholders.

Sanctions: where are we now and what’s next? – Sue Millar, Stephenson Harwood

Sue will provide a recap on the current sanctions regimes affecting Russia, Iran and Venezuela and will then consider what’s likely to be coming down the track.           

The Risky Business of Declaring Force Majeure: lessons learned from Seadrill Ghana Operations Limited v Tullow Ghana Limited – Gemma Morgan, Quadrant Chambers

Gemma Morgan, counsel for the Claimant, will explain the circumstances in which force majeure was relied upon by the rig operator to terminate the rig contract, analyse the Commercial Court’s reasoning as to when a force majeure event will occur and discuss what lessons owners and operators can learn from the decision.       

Making it count – compliance with contractual notification regimes – Chris Smith QC, Quadrant Chambers

In terms of alleviating contractual duties, the imposition of sanctions or events of force majeure will count for nothing if the parties do not take the steps required by their contract in order to obtain the necessary relief. Chris Smith will identify some pointers and pitfalls in relation to the notification regimes commonly used in the oil and gas industry.