Oil and Gas

Holland & Knight offers market-leading legal counsel to oil and gas clients throughout the U.S. and around the globe. In addition to the full range of services provided by our Oil and Gas Practice, the firm's deep bench of cross-practice attorneys covers all aspects of oil and gas industry transactions, commercial projects, litigation, bankruptcy and restructuring, intellectual property, real estate, construction and regulatory matters. Thus, Holland & Knight provides our clients a competitive advantage.

[Holland & Knight] remains "the nation's preeminent firm in the area of oil and gas law. They have capability not only in the nuts and bolts of property matters, but in all of the various disciplines that are so closely related to this industry."

– Client Testimonial, Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" 2024 guide

Our clients include multinational and independent oil and gas companies, host government oil and gas companies, private equity and commercial lenders, energy industry service giants, refineries, petrochemical companies, and multinational drilling contractors and construction companies.

The firm's oil and gas experience and skills have been recognized by numerous prestigious legal directories, including:

• The Legal 500 Latin America 2024 guide, which lists Holland & Knight as one of the leading law firms in Energy and Natural Resources
• Chambers Latin America 2024 guide, which lists Holland & Knight as one of the leading law firms in Energy and Natural Resources
• Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" 2024 guide, which lists Holland & Knight as a Tier 1 firm for Oil & Gas Law
• The Best Lawyers in America 2024 guide, which lists 12 Holland & Knight attorneys for Oil and Gas, one of the largest numbers of any law firm in the United States
• Chambers Global – The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2023 guide, which ranks Holland & Knight among the top global firms for Energy: Oil & Gas (Transactional)
• Chambers USA – America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2023 guide, which ranks Holland & Knight among the top firms in the U.S. for Energy: Oil & Gas (Transactional) and Oil & Gas Litigation
• The Legal 500 United States 2023 guide, which ranks us among the top firms in the nation for Energy Litigation: Oil and Gas and Energy Transactions: Oil and Gas

Many of the attorneys on our Oil and Gas Team have prior industry experience, including as petroleum engineers, in-house counsel, auditors, landmen and bankers. As a result, we not only provide integrated service through the collaboration of attorneys across multiple practice areas, but each of these attorneys also understands the oil and gas industry.

Upstream

We assist clients in the full range of upstream matters, including:

• acquisition, divestiture and merger agreements
• joint development, DrillCos and farm-in/farmout transactions
• negotiating, drafting and interpreting the full range of oil and gas contracts
• leases/licenses, concessions, production sharing agreements and service contracts
• market value and royalty deductions
• surface use and damages issues
• condemnation matters
• lease interpretations
• horizontal and vertical relinquishments
• limitation on title
• instruments of ratification
• title due diligence
• accounting procedure (Council of Petroleum Accountants Societies/COPAS) negotiations, drafting and interpretation
• acquiring host government contracts
• litigation and dispute resolution
• permitting and environmental review of production facilities

Midstream

Holland & Knight's midstream practice includes a strong bench of experienced transactional, commercial, regulatory and litigation attorneys, with a value-oriented staffing perspective. We offer extensive experience and a deep knowledge base, both as in-house and outside counsel, in natural gas (including compressed natural gas/CNG and liquefied natural gas/LNG), crude oil, refined products, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and purity products, carbon dioxide (CO₂), produced and potable water, saltwater disposal (SWD) wells and disposal arrangements.

Our attorneys have decades of experience advising clients in a wide variety of midstream matters, including commercial projects, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), financing and other corporate transactions, day-to-day operations, regulatory matters and dispute resolution. The firm represents midstream companies, producers, service companies, investors, lenders and acquiring parties, providing valuable perspectives on due diligence, transactional and negotiated terms, lessons learned and market perspectives.

Downstream and Petrochemical

Our oil and gas attorneys have more than 30 years of experience in handling all aspects of refinery and other downstream matters, including structuring, negotiating and preparing contracts for commercial transactions. Holland & Knight's in-depth experience includes the negotiation of crude oil supply and transportation agreements, tolling agreements and offtake agreements. The firm also assists refinery owners in land acquisitions and sales associated with refinery plant expansions, along with the creation of buffer zones surrounding the plant, and otherwise rationalizing the real property assets associated with the refinery. Our lawyers also represent clients in plant acquisitions and sales, project development and finance, environmental compliance, permitting and joint ventures.

Additionally, extensive heavy industry, project development and energy industry practices are the foundation for our practical knowledge as counselors of petrochemical manufacturers, their institutional investors and companies with similar concerns. We assist chemical products manufacturers with product lines as diverse as ethylene, chlor-alkali, olefins, polyethylene, and a host of other commodity chemicals and additional products, including industrial equipment pharmaceuticals, high-tech products, forest products and cement. Our attorneys regularly counsel petrochemical clients concerning the formation and structuring of international and national joint ventures, asset acquisitions and dispositions, project finance transactions, bankruptcy and restructuring, and litigation and tax matters. We also advise petrochemical clients on the commercial execution side, including with respect to construction and procurement, operations, marketing and sales agreements, and transportation arrangements.

Oilfield Services

We assist oilfield services companies with regard to a wide range of legal matters, including corporate, intellectual property, tax, finance, real estate, labor and employment, environmental, trial and appellate, and bankruptcy and restructuring. The firm's oilfield services clients include those focused on the following:

• water transfer and disposal services
• drilling
• engineering services
• fracking
• energy-related technology and software
• machinery and equipment manufacturing and wholesaling
• natural gas compression services
• oil and gas exploration services
• pipeline operations, management, construction and maintenance
• well intervention and pressure control services

Offshore

Holland & Knight's offshore oil and gas experience includes:

• acquisitions and divestitures of offshore federal oil and gas leases, offshore oil and gas companies, and offshore producing properties, including negotiating and drafting purchase and sale agreements
• advice regarding Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regulations
• due diligence
• negotiation of contracts related to the construction and decommissioning of offshore wells and facilities
• assistance with permitting and entitlements and environmental review for decommissioning of platforms, associated pipelines and related onshore facilities