Who's Who Legal interviews Maria Aybar, legal manager of the first ever natural gas liquidification plant in South America, PERU LNG. She discusses the requirements of her role and trends in the in-house legal market.

The International Who's Who of Oil & Gas Lawyers has brought together two of the leading practitioners in the world to discuss key issues facing lawyers today.

The Supreme Court of Iraq is currently considering the legality of the Rumaila oilfield contract awarded by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil to BP and China National Oil Petroleum Co (SINOPEC) in the first bidding round for oil and gas field development contracts in 2009.

Over the past years we saw a significant increase in commodity prices, but specifically during 2008, where oil prices rose above US$147 to an all-time record, as a result of several factors such as growing demand from the expanding BRIC economies, worries on oil supply, lack of stability in several oil-producing countries, and the decline of the US dollar, among others.

A common assumption today is that the Middle East has an abundance of readily available natural gas supplies; however, the reality is quite different.

Our research selects 419 individuals who are considered by clients, in-house counsel and fellow private practitioners to be some of the very best in the world in their field and jurisdiction. The research for this edition is made up of 77 countries, making it one of the broadest reaching books geographically that we have published in previous years. Several firms perform excellently in this year’s research, with a strong representation from all the major continents of the world, particularly North America.

With the benefit of over 14 years of research and tens of thousands of votes from clients and private practitioners, Who’s Who Legal takes a closer look at developing trends in the oil and gas legal marketplace worldwide.

We have selected the 420 leading oil and gas lawyers according to the results of our research in 69 jurisdictions to be included in this publication.

No other area of commercial law can match the geopolitical importance of the oil and gas sector. Recent examples include Russia’s decision to reduce the gas supply to Belarus, which caused ripples of concern across Europe, but there is also a softer side.

For resource-rich countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan, with established activity in the hydrocarbons sector, the oil and gas industries make a huge contribution to economic prosperity. Unsurprisingly these jurisdictions are home to most of the lawyers in this section; however, our research shows Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan are all seeing expansion in this part of the legal market and are also represented.

The lawyers in this chapter predict that energy will be a major growth area in Brazil over the coming years, in spite of downward pressure in the world economy.

In times of economic uncertainty all eyes become fixed upon the price of oil. Consequently the past year has been an eventful one for the oil and gas industry, with crude oil prices reaching a record of $147 a barrel in July 2008 and dropping to below $50 just four months later.

International Players With Texan Roots

Of 54 US-based practitioners, our research identifies 25 individuals in the state of Texas, all but two of whom are based in the Houston offices of the state's most prestigious home-grown firms.

California is home to the world's second largest oil company, Chevron and other Fortune 500 energy companies including Occidental Petroleum, Sempra Energy and Calpine.

California is home to the world's second largest oil company, Chevron and other Fortune 500 energy companies including Occidental Petroleum, Sempra Energy and Calpine.