Nicholas Antonas, Special Counsel in Johnson Winter & Slattery’s Energy and Resources team, has co-authored a chapter on decommissioning in Sweet & Maxwell’s book Oil and Gas Contracts – Principles and Practice, third edition.
Nicholas’s chapter looks at the legal principles relevant to decommissioning and how this important issue is typically dealt with by host governments and in joint ventures.
Mr. Antonas has significant experience in this area. Nicholas previously spent over seven years at an international law firm in London, where he worked on decommissioning matters around the world, advising various oil and gas companies, offshore contractors, special situation investors and creditors on a wide variety of oil and gas decommissioning matters including with respect to trailing liability, decommissioning security agreements, alternative end of field life solutions and the resolution of liabilities as a condition to transaction approvals. With recent changes to Australia’s offshore oil and gas laws introducing trailing liability for decommissioning obligations, this issue has become of critical importance to investors in Australia’s offshore oil and gas sector – see here for recent commentary by Mr. Antonas and colleagues.
Nicholas has been recognised as an Associate to Watch in Energy and Natural Resources by Chambers UK 2018–22, as a Rising Star in Energy and Resources by Euromoney 2019-20 and in the Euromoney Expert Guides UK Energy and Natural Resources 2020-21. In addition to this chapter, Mr. Antonas has co-edited the leading text on decommissioning law and has written and spoken extensively on energy and ESG matters.
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