Gavin Watson

Upstream

• Counsel to an energy infrastructure investor creating innovative limited recourse structures to help unlock development of smaller more marginal fields in the UK Central North Sea.
• Advised a national investment authority in the Middle East on the commercialization of its interests in a significant gas field in the East Mediterranean.
• Counsel to Middle East-based and international E&P companies on the negotiation, acquisition, and development of petroleum interests across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.
• Advised an Asian national oil company on commercial and governance matters related to its Iraqi contract areas.
• Counsel to a private Malaysian E&P company on the potential acquisition of a significant offshore gas asset in the East Mediterranean.
• Advised a listed Middle Eastern energy company on its acquisition of upstream assets in Yemen and Russia.

Midstream

• Counsel to various parties and ECAs on major cross-border pipeline projects including the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the West African gas pipeline, and the West Natuna gas pipeline.
• Advised an international energy trading company on a $300 million borrowing base facility and related arrangements.
• Counsel to a leading global trading company on the development of a petroleum products export joint venture in North Africa.
• Advising a global trading company LPG infrastructure to support importation into North Africa.
• Counsel to a leading LPG company on the potential development of the Canvey Island LNG import terminal in the UK.

Downstream & Petrochemicals

• Counsel to a global petrochemical company on its world-scale polyethylene project in Central Asia.
• Advised investors on the potential development and expansion of a major petrochemical complex in Libya.
• Counsel to a leading petrochemical company on a proposed $3 billion petrochemical project in Oman.
• Counsel to a Dubai-based investment company on refinery developments across Asia and North Africa.

Oilfield Services & Drilling

• International counsel to a North American drilling company on bids and operations across Central Asia and the Middle East.
• Advised a European oilfield services company on joint venture and operating arrangements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Trading & Commercial

• Counsel to the Hass Petroleum Group on the sale of a strategic stake to Oman Trading International.
• Advised Japanese trading houses on their joint investment in, and the development of, an industrial gas facility in the Middle East.
• Counsel to the world’s largest independent energy trading company on major trading and infrastructure developments in the Middle East and North Africa.

Energy Transition & Emerging Technologies

• Counsel to one of the first commercial-scale floating offshore wind developers, advising across all elements of its business including seabed lease bids, contractual framework for consortium engagement and collaboration, early-stage funding facilities, contractor-backed financing, and offtake models including sales to help decarbonization of offshore oil & gas operations.
• Advised a leading technology owner and developer on joint ventures to build recycling facilities using proprietary technology, including guidance on feedstock, licensing and sales arrangements.
• Advising a floating wind developer on its potential joint venture to provide green power to an FPSO operating in the UK Continental Shelf.
• Counsel to a leading fusion energy company on its commercial-scale demonstrator to be developed in the UK.
• Advising transition-focused innovators on carbon capture, advanced recycling, and waste-to-energy commercialization.
• Advising government-related entities on acquisitions, petrochemical development, and transition-enabling infrastructure.

Representative Projects

• Lead counsel for the largest developer of floating offshore wind awarded through the INTOG lease round.
• Advising on global feedstock, licensing, and offtake arrangements for a leading plastics recycling company, as well as potential joint venture arrangements in Europe and Asia.
• Supporting a client creating a framework for the development of a portfolio of biorefineries to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using HEFA technologies.
• Commercialization strategy for a waste-to-energy/carbon capture technology developer.
• Advising an Asian trading company on a long-term LNG investment in the Middle East.

• England and Wales