A Warm Welcome to our Website
We specialise in the drafting and negotiation of international petroleum agreements. Our clients include governments, NOCs, IOCs, and contractors of various sizes. With over thirty years' experience advising on petroleum agreements across the globe we bring unique insight to the practical and commercial realities of the upstream.
We are privileged to be involved in some of the world's largest and most important petroleum transactions and invite you to explore our website to learn more about our services.
We provide specialist advisory, drafting and negotiation services to the international oil and gas industry.
Our current business titles include Fundamentals of Upstream Petroleum Agreements (2008) and Commercial Contracts (2001).
Courses
We run a number of worldwide courses and conferences on upstream petroleum agreements and more general commercial topics.
This is a serious business but we like to have as much fun as possible. Visitors may enjoy our Articles, or Chris Thorpe's series: Tales from the Arena and Tails of a Manx Cat.
For Western business the Middle East is a region of many disappointments, a graveyard for many business initiatives. . .
Those who have had the dubious pleasure of commuting into London by rail, as I did for nearly ten years, will know what a strange microcosm this is. . . .
ust occasionally in the upstream you meet not an armchair general, but a real one, a retired general hired by an oil company as an adviser, strategist or consultant. . . .
About fifteen years ago I received a phone call from the general counsel of one of the majors, one of my regular clients. He and I knew each other quite well. . . .
In my year off I worked five months as a domestic assistant in Banstead Mental Hospital. . . .
was hard at work in my office one morning, when two me in sharp black suits knocked on my door. . . .
In the summer of 2012 I was involved in protracted negotiations in Lisbon, with meetings six days a week. . . .
Once the negotiation of an important agreement is finished there is usually a formal signing ceremony. . . .
Pithecanthropus was the cruel soubriquet of the water bailiff at the Clypse reservoir. It is not clear whether it referred to his looks, his intelligence, or both . . .
I had thought that my earlier Tail, Horse, would be my last word on the Tesco horsemeat scandal. . . .
Many years ago Les took my father, brother and me to a Manx farm to introduce us to the farmer and ask if we could shoot wild ducks on his dub (the Manx word for a pond). . . .
I first came to the Isle of Man on holiday with my family in 1962. I was five years old. . . .
Some of these Tails are from times past. This one goes back to the 1970s, when there was a rich herring fishery on the Island and we were students who spent our long and precious summers here. . . .
The fearsome Maughold Head Race is open to all ages, and just before the start the organisers were trying to persuade some of the older gentlemen of the Parish to take part. . . .
When you leave Ramsey on the coast road, and take the left turn to Maughold, the road crosses the tram track and then drops down through Port-e-Vullen. . . .
Drilling an exploration well is always a tense time for those involved in it, even the lawyers and contracts specialists whose contribution is usually finished before the well is begun. . .