Advises clients on oil and gas, coal, and other natural resource and infrastructure transactions.
Practice includes mergers and acquisitions (M&A), project development and finance, service agreement suites and risk allocation schematics, procurement and anticorruption compliance matters.
Practice
David Sweeney’s experience spans the full natural resource value chain, from exploration, production, processing and infrastructure, to monetization. David has advised on mergers and acquisitions with an aggregate value of more than $65 billion, energy finance transactions with an aggregate value of more than $3 billion and operational matters in more than 30 countries.
David is a frequent author and speaker on oil and gas topics. He has authored a comprehensive book on worldwide oil and gas joint operating agreements and another on worldwide farmout, participation and similar agreements.
Representative Work
Mergers and Acquisitions
Represented Diamondback Energy in its $2.2 billion acquisition of QEP Resources.
Represented Laredo Petroleum in its $405 million proved developed producing (PDP) reserves sale to an affiliate of Sixth Street Partners.
Represented Apache Corporation in connection with its approximately $7.5 billion farmout transaction with an affiliate of Total S.A. to explore and develop Block 58 offshore Suriname.
Represented Diamondback Energy in its $862 million acquisition of Guidon Operating.
Represented LUKOIL in its $435 million acquisition of Fieldwood Mexico.
Represented DEA Deutsche Erodel AG in its acquisition of Sierra Oil and Gas for more than $500 million, including the Zama discovery and six exploration and appraisal blocks, offshore Mexico.
Advised Diamondback Energy in connection with its $9.2 billion all-stock merger with Energen Corporation.
Advised Stone Energy Corporation in its $2.5 billion merger with Talos Energy Corporation.
Represented Gulfport Energy Corporation in its $1.85 billion acquisition of SCOOP exploration and production assets from Vitruvian Exploration.
Advised Diamondback Energy in connection with its $620 million “drillco” transaction with an affiliate of The Carlyle Group.
Represented EOG Resources in its $400 million “drillco” transaction with an affiliate of The Carlyle Group.
Represented Kinder Morgan in its $38 billion merger with El Paso Corporation.
Represented Kinder Morgan in the $7.15 billion sale of an exploration and production business unit of El Paso Corporation, including offshore Brazilian assets; concessions in Egypt’s Western Desert; and assets in the Eagle Ford Shale, Permian Basin, Haynesville Shale, Black Warrior Basin, Uintah Basin, Raton Basin, Powder River Basin and Gulf of Mexico.
Represented Apache Corporation in the $7 billion acquisition of exploration and production assets in Canada (Alberta and British Columbia), Texas and Egypt from BP.
Operating Agreements, Unitizations, and Infrastructure
Represented a major, international energy company in connection with the structuring and negotiation of a joint development zone project.
Represented Apache Corporation in connection with multiple joint operating agreements, offshore Suriname.
Represented a publicly traded international energy company in connection with a unitization, offshore Mexico.
Represented an international, integrated energy company in connection with a deepwater production handling and processing agreement.
Represented a publicly traded superindependent in connection with multiple cost-of-service gathering and processing agreements, onshore United States.
Represented multiple major, integrated energy companies in the negotiation of more than 50 deepwater Gulf of Mexico operating agreements.
Represented a major, integrated energy company in multiple joint operating agreements governing deepwater operations, offshore Ivory Coast, Ghana and Sierra Leone.
Advised a major, integrated energy company in connection with an operating agreement and cost-sharing arrangements relating to a Gulf of Mexico floating production storage and offloading unit and related production systems.
Advised Doyon Ltd. in multiple joint operating agreements covering North Slope Alaska assets.
Represented the Municipality of Anchorage in the negotiation of a unit operating agreement covering a large Cook Inlet gas unit.
Advised Otto Energy Ltd. in connection with multiple shallow-water Gulf of Mexico operating agreements.
Represented an independent exploration and production company in connection with a North Sea unitization.
Represented an independent exploration and production company in a pipe-within-a-pipe joint venture on Mineral Leasing Act Lands in Colorado.
Service and Supply Sector Projects
Represented a major, integrated multinational energy company in connection with a rig-sublease for deepwater operations, Gulf of Mexico.
Represented a major, integrated multinational energy company in connection with 20K technology sharing and development agreements for ultra-high pressure environments.
Advised a major, integrated, multinational energy company in connection with a rig-sharing agreement for deepwater operations, offshore West Africa.
Advised a national oil company in connection with ITT model form offshore drilling and service agreements, tender and procurement procedures, and training modules in respect of a drilling campaign, offshore Colombia.
Represented Halliburton in the structuring and negotiation of a joint venture arrangement for oilfield service and supply operations in Ghana.
Advised a major, integrated, multinational energy company in connection with a deepwater drilling services agreement for offshore projects in West Africa and Eastern Europe.
Speeches
“M&A Insurance: A Strategic Approach to Managing Deal Risk,” Houston Bar Association’s Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Section, co-presenter, webinar, Oct. 28, 2021.
“A Strange New World: Teaching Oil Tricks to New Dogs and New Tricks to Old Dogs,” 17th Annual Mergers and Acquisitions Institute, UTCLE, Dallas, Texas, October 7, 2021.
Association of International Petroleum Negotiators Above Ground Risk Workshop, Houston, Texas, July 19-22, 2021.
“Blockchain and its Application in Oil & Gas,” Client Presentation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, August 9, 2021.
“Joint Operating Agreements,” Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Association of International Petroleum Negotiators and Institute for Energy Law’s International Oil & Gas Law, Contracts & Negotiations Conference, Houston, Texas, Sept. 25, 2019.
“Anatomy of an Oil & Gas Purchase and Sale Agreement,” Akin Gump Deal Maker’s Boot Camp, Houston, Texas, November 2018.
“The 2012 AIPN Model Joint Operating Agreement,” Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation; Association of International Petroleum Negotiators; and the Institute for Energy Law, Core Course of International Oil & Gas Law, Contracts, and Negotiations, Houston, Texas, September 2018.
“(Beyond) The AIPN Model Joint Operating Agreement,” Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, YN Breakfast Speaker Series, Houston, Texas, November 2017.
The 2012 AIPN Model Joint Operating Agreement,” Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation; Association of International Petroleum Negotiators; and the Institute for Energy Law, Core Course of International Oil & Gas Law, Contracts, and Negotiations, Houston, Texas, September 2016.
“Exploration and Production Contracting Workshop,” Department of Commerce, Commercial Law Development Program, U.S. Embassy Islamabad and U.S. Embassy London in coordination with the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources of Pakistan, The Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, and the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Islamabad and London, February 2016.
“Hard Times—Provisions in Common Oil & Gas Contracts That You Didn’t Care About Before but That You Should Care About Now,” Thurgood Marshall School of Law, 3rd Annual Energy Symposium Houston, Texas, October 2015.
“Access to Third Party Infrastructure – a Comparative Approach,” LSU Comparative Offshore Oil & Gas Symposium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, March 2015.
“Petroleum Contracts and Contracting – a Basic Primer,” African Legal Support Foundation & International Senior Lawyers Project Workshop for the Officials of the Federal Government of Somalia, Entebbe, Uganda, March 2015.
“Effectively Managing Risk in Emerging Markets: A Practice Perspective,” Oil & Gas Supply Chain Compliance Seminar and Interactive Workshop, Houston, Texas, April 2015.
“International Joint Operating Agreements,” University of Houston Advanced Legal Studies Program – Petrobras Education Program in Oil & Gas Law, Houston, Texas, December 2014.
“Fracturing Relationships – The Impact of Risk and Risk Allocation on Unconventional Oil & Gas Projects,” Institute for Energy Law, 65thAnnual Oil & Gas Law Conference, Houston, Texas, February 2014.
“Domestic Transactions Module,” Chair, Institute for Energy Law, 65th Annual Oil & Gas Law Conference, Houston, Texas, February 2014.
Public Service and Affiliations
Association of International Petroleum Negotiators – Member, Joint Operating Agreement Revision Committee; Past Member, Farmout Agreement Revision Committee, Service Agreement and Drilling Contract Committee, Area of Mutual Interest Agreement Committee, Unitization & Unit Operating Agreement Committee.
Institute for Energy Law – Member, Advisory Committee; Past Member, Executive Committee; Past Chair, Training Modules Task Force; Academic Outreach Committee, Member.
Member, State Bar of Texas, Oil and Gas Section.
Recognition
Chambers Global, Energy: Oil & Gas (Transactional): Central United States, 2022.
Chambers USA, leading practitioner in Energy: Oil & Gas (Transactional), 2021.
Recommended in The Legal 500 Latin America, Projects and Energy, 2021.
IFLR1000, Notable Practitioners, 2020.
WWL: Energy, Global Elite Thought Leaders, 2020.
Recognized by The Legal 500 US as a "Next Generation Lawyer" in 2019 and "Next Generation Partner" in 2020 to 2021, and recommended in Energy: Transactions: Oil and Gas, 2019 to 2021.
Oil and Gas Investor, Forty Under 40 in Energy, 2019.
Law360, “Rising Star in Energy,” 2018.
Who’s Who Legal, Energy, 2018.
Recognized in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Energy: Oil & Gas (Transactional), 2010-2012.
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