The tempo of activities in the Nigerian energy sector – oil and gas and power – has never been as high as it has been in the last few years. In the last year alone, the Nigerian government did what in the past had been thought impossible – it made the bold move to privatise the power sector by selling electricity assets to the private investors. This was something that many had prayed for because the power sector, like the old telephone system before privatisation, needed a new approach, not only to the management, but also in its operational attitude. In the oil and gas sector, government has carried out a number of marginal fields’ and oil licensing bid rounds in the last 10 years, during which indigenous and foreign investors participated. But it was not until the international oil companies (IOC) such as Shell, Agip, Total and lately ConocoPhillips and Chevron began to divest their interest in some rich fields that the serious attention began to shift to parties who were making these transactions.
For sure, these are often complex transactions and putting them together to successful conclusions involves different groups of people and firms; and lawyers and law firms play a significant role in structuring all the legal frameworks, interpreting and explaining the laws to make sure that transactions are watertight and cover the participants involved before a deal is sealed. Because these are specialist areas, it necessarily means that the law firms that participate in these kinds of transactions are experts in the specialist area of energy law. As with most things requiring high specialism, those who are brilliant at it are often limited in number.
Inside this edition of your leading newspaper in business and financial journalism in West Africa, we present to you a unique insight into energy law practice in Nigeria. This is coming barely seven months after we took the initiative to launch, very early in the year, a new supplement that we named West Africa Energy published every Wednesday inside this newspaper. Our aim in launching the supplement is to bring to you, in our inimitable style and eye for detail, a supplement with analytical and forward looking contents about the energy sector across West Africa. We have done this successfully and today, in the supplement West Africa Energy, we present an in-depth look at the key issues in energy law practice in Nigeria with special focus on the major players who are shaping, structuring and fine-tuning the legal sides of energy transactions.
You will find in this report, law firms who have participated in power and oil and gas transactions; law firms who go to the law courts to argue cases involving energy firms and who are helping to shape the direction of energy law drafting in the country. In this first of what will be an occasional series, you will read about players such as Adepetun Caxton-Martins Agbor &Segun; ADVISORY Legal Consultants; Advocaat Law Practice; Ajumogobia & Okeke; Alliance Law Firm; Banwo & Ighodalo; BenchMac & Ince; Blackcreek Partners; Detail Commercial Solicitors; George Etomi & Partners; Jackson, Etti & Edu; Olajide Oyewole LLP; Olaniwun Ajayi LP; Olisa Agbakoba & Associates; Praxis Legal; STREAMSOWERS & KOHN; TAYO OYETIBO & CO; TEMPLARS; and UCHE NWOKEDI & Co. We present to you the ground breaking work they are doing in the world of energy law practice in the country.
Phillip Isakpa – Editor
