We recently undertook some research and found that private equity funds bought £11.9 billion of European oil and gas businesses in 2021, up from just £232 million in 2020. While historically some private equity funds have been long-term investors in the oil and gas industry much of the investment has been within the lower-risk midstream
The Mayer Brown Oil & Gas Lawyers’ Forum is back and the next session will take place on Wednesday 29 September at 12:45 p.m. (BST)/ 7:45 a.m. (EDT) when we will hold a discussion on Managing Cyber Risk in the Oil & Gas Sector with partners Mark Stefanini and Oliver Yaros in London and Stephen
Kwasi Kwarteng, UK Business and Energy Secretary is reported to have said on 20 September that “My task is to ensure that any energy supplier failures cause the least amount of disruption to consumers”.
Wholesale day-ahead gas prices in the UK are reported to have jumped some 9% on 20 September alone. The rise is as a result of a number of factors including increased demand in Asia, lower supplies of gas from Russia and increase in demand as countries emerge from lockdown restrictions and economies start to pick up once more.
Such rapid and significant price increases typically disproportionately impact smaller suppliers and indeed it is widely anticipated that a number of the smaller suppliers will fall into insolvency over the coming weeks and months. The specific process is unique to the energy industry.
The UK’s Hydrogen Strategy landed this month, sending a strong message that the UK government is listening and willing to commit to private sector partners in order to reach short term and long term hydrogen market goals. However, the scale of the challenge remains huge, requiring the simultaneous development of hydrogen production capabilities and end
This month the UK Government issued an updated timetable and submissions guidance for cluster sequencing for Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) deployment. With this paper came a number of updates across its CCUS programme including:
In November we wrote about the UK’s National Security and Investment Bill, which promises to give rise to the most significant changes to the treatment of mergers and acquisitions in the UK for many years. In January, we discussed the Bill at more length at the Mayer Brown Oil & Gas Lawyers’ Forum and
The UK Supreme Court has handed down its judgment in the case of Okpabi and others v Royal Dutch Shell Plc and another. This is an important decision that will be of interest to all UK headquartered companies operating in jurisdictions and industries where there is a higher risk of ESG-related issues arising. Although the
Energy Voice has recently published an article written by Mayer Brown on potential restructuring options for oil companies in the UK.
Whether dealing with failure of a major project, reacting to crises at counterparties or weighed down by oil price weakness, many companies in the oil sector will have to undertake financial restructuring in
The UK has announced an ambitious target to achieve a net zero carbon economy by 2050. It is widely acknowledged both within the UK government and industry more broadly that hydrogen will play a key role in achieving this target. The potential role of hydrogen in the transport and heating sector is seen as particularly
On 11 November 2020, the UK government published draft legislation, the National Security and Investment Bill (the “Bill”), which will significantly change the treatment of mergers and acquisitions in the United Kingdom and will introduce a new security screening regime separate from competition law.
Once in force, it will require prior notification and approval of