Advises clients on oil and gas, coal, and other natural resource and infrastructure transactions.
Focuses on 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. His work includes:
Joint and unit operating agreements
Joint development agreements
Farmouts, farmins and other joint ventures and participation agreements
Gathering, transportation, processing, production handling, and similar midstream and downstream agreements.
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
Represented Apache Corporation in its joint venture agreement with an affiliate of Total S.A. to explore and develop Block 58 offshore Suriname. The deal included consideration of $5 billion of cash carry on Apache’s first $7.5 billion of appraisal and development capital and 25 percent cash carry on Apache’s appraisal and development capital beyond the first $7.5 billion, $100 million in cash upon completion, and $75 million on first oil production.
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 Inc. 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 Inc. 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.
Advised Polish Oil and Gas Company in a farm-in to an exploration and production project in Germany.
Operating Agreements, Unitizations, and Infrastructure
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.
Represented a U.S. independent exploration and production company in model form operated and nonoperated joint operating agreements for unconventional resource development.
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
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 an offshore drilling campaign.
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
“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
Member, Farmout Agreement Revision Committee, Service Agreement and Drilling Contract Committee, Area of Mutual Interest Agreement Committee, Unitization & Unit Operating Agreement Committee, Association of International Petroleum Negotiators.
Chair, Training Modules Task Force; Vice-Chair, Academic Outreach Committee; Member, Executive Committee, Advisory Board, Institute for Energy Law.
Member, State Bar of Texas, Oil and Gas Section.
Recognition
WWL: Energy, Global Elite Thought Leaders, 2020.
Recognized by The Legal 500 US as a "Next Generation Lawyer" and recommended in Energy: Transactions: Oil and Gas, 2019.
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.
Heeding the Call: Our Commitment to Racial Justice
A message from Akin Gump chairperson Kim Koopersmith
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr.
"An America that looks away is ignoring not just the sins of the past but the sins of the present and the certain sins of the future." Ta-Nehisi Coates
From the voices of two generations of moral leadership, Akin Gump heeds the call. We cannot remain silent, and we cannot look away. And we cannot accept the sad reality that too little has changed for too long.
We start by acknowledging and recognizing the most basic reality that systemic racism is a blight on our country and around the world. It has caused too much death, indignity and injustice to be allowed to fester as it has without sufficient challenge. We must commit to addressing racism and the deep wounds it has inflicted on our nation. And in making that commitment, we must combine immediate steps with a sustained, intense relentlessness of purpose.
Our commitment to justice, antiracism, humanity and diversity has been a core principle since the founding of our firm 75 years ago. It continues to guide us to this day. But it is also time to reimagine what we can do to effect change in our communities and what we can do with the special responsibilities and privileges we hold as part of the legal profession.
As a part of this commitment, we are making a $200,000 financial contribution, split between the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Equal Justice Initiative. LDF has been at the forefront of some of the most important legal battles for justice and equality in our nation's history, and we are proud of our long-standing partnership. EJI has also been transformative in challenging racial and economic injustice in our country and in effecting meaningful, beneficial change for the citizens of our country. These financial contributions are a continuation, not the conclusion, of our efforts.
We will engage in dialogue, seek to educate and raise a call to action in our own firm. Leadership requires that we look inward as well as outward. We will listen, we will become smarter and we will act. We will take our long history of pro bono representation and ensure that we are using the talent and passion of our firm to directly address racial injustice. And we will seek to join forces with those who share our commitment—other members of the legal community; advocacy, professional and other allied organizations; and our clients—to maximize our impact.
In everything we do, we are inspired and guided by the life and deeds of our partner Vernon Jordan, a fighter against injustice for his entire life. Many of us have had the honor of discussing firsthand with Vernon his experiences battling to integrate public colleges and universities in the 1960s and his later tenure as the Georgia field director of the NAACP. In these times of profound reflection, we recognize that progress is not enough, and there is much work to be done. As Vernon has said, "We exist temporarily through what we take, but we live forever through what we give." It is time for everyone to find a way to give.
This moment is one for profound sadness and necessary action. It is worth reflecting on the words of Dr. King: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." But that doesn't happen by itself, and we cannot rely on destiny alone to determine which way the arc bends. We recognize Dr. King's "fierce urgency of now," and, as a firm, we will be doing everything we can to be part of bending that arc toward justice.
Kim
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