Editorial: Project Finance in Texas

01 May 2007

Vinson & Elkins LLP played a role in the Texas oil boom of the early 20th century and cut its teeth on oil and gas matters. Bruce Bilger is chair of the firm’s energy practice group and co-chair of the business and international section. Bilger has represented a major insurance company in the project financing of a natural gas gathering system in the US, with a value in excess of $100 million and acted for the lead developer in the $220 million development and financing of the first major natural gas pipeline in Colombia. Douglas Bland co-heads the firm’s worldwide project finance and development practice group and is also a member of the energy and merger and acquisition practice groups. His project finance work includes the representation of Constellation Power in the development of the Rio Nogales Power Plant, an 800MW natural gas-fired, combined-cycle power plant in Texas. A fellow nominee praised Bland for being a classic “roll-up-your-sleeves type of guy – total dynamite”. Marcia Backus is the second professional representing Vinson & Elkins (which has more of its partners on our list than any other firm). Backus was described as a “top-flight” practitioner who was also praised for her “enviable experience and knowledge of the market in Venezuela”, where she has represented a project company in the development and OPIC financing of a build-own-operate gas processing project. 

Andrews Kurth LLP offers two practitioners for the following pages: Timothy Unger and Dahl Thompson. Unger played a key role in the handling of the $2.15 billion bond offering for Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG project and he is also highly recommended in the oil & gas chapter. He was praised by fellow nominees as “fantastic” and “a force to be reckoned with for international work”. He is based in Houston, but also serves as the partner overseeing the activities of its representative office in Beijing. Thompson represents developers, financial institutions and equity investors in project financing transactions with a particular emphasis on energy infrastructure projects, including electrical gas-fired power plants, wind power facilities and other renewable energy projects. Representative cases include acting for a project company in the development and financing of a 241MW wind power facility in Texas, with a total financing of $343 million. 

Fulbright & Jaworski LLP fields one of its lawyers for our project finance list, who is also found in the oil & gas chapter. The “very experienced” Brian Bradshaw joined the Texas powerhouse’s energy practice in 2006 from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP. His practice places an emphasis on the financing of LNG liquefaction and regasification terminals and other large-scale energy infrastructure projects, and he “does a great deal of cross-border work and knows a lot about the market in South America”.

John Cogan from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is the most highly nominated practitioner in the project finance research (he also performed exceptionally well in the oil & gas chapter). According to his peers, Cogan is “extremely strong on projects” and “good at LNG work”. He heads the firm’s global projects practice and has represented a Texas bank in connection with the financing of a pipeline compressor station in Canada, a consortium of Mexican, Spanish and US interests in negotiations with the government oil entity, Pemex, and lenders for financing the Coatzacoalcos MTBE plant in Mexico. A prolific speaker and writer, Cogan has also taught a course on international financial transactions at the University of Houston. 

King & Spalding LLP is home to Daniel Rogers, an “excellent” and “very competent lawyer” who also features in our oil & gas chapter. His project finance work focuses on oil and gas, petrochemicals, biofuels and other energy-related infrastructure projects. Before joining King & Spalding, Rogers was general counsel of the global LNG and Middle East business units of Enron. 

Despite the departure of Brian Bradshaw, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP remains a leading player in the market. John Ale, “a real star”, was an executive director and general counsel of water company Azurix and in his time in private practice has represented clients including a multinational power developer in the issuance of long-term bonds to US financial institutions under Rule 144A – the first time a power project outside the United States had been financed in this fashion. 

We finish by looking at John Mauel from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Mauel is a partner in the Houston office and is the local section leader for the finance practice. Peers noted that he “does a lot of work in the Middle East”, highlighting the international dimension of his practice. He also does a great deal of work in the US and representative matters include acting for US independent electric power companies in connection with their financing of an electric power project in Georgia, an electric power project in Michigan, a coal gasification project in Indiana and electric power projects in Texas. Given the nature of this practice area in the state, Mauel, like so many others here, is also selected for the oil & gas chapter.

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