Global economic growth demands reliable supplies of energy. As both a key underpinning of modern society and a basic consumer good, energy is an inherently challenging and political business. The effect of market forces and impact of politics can be more pronounced, and more immediate, than in many businesses.

Against this backdrop, large-scale exploration, development, transportation, generation, and distribution projects compete for the allocation of capital on a global scale. Clients with interests in oil and gas, electric, nuclear, and renewable energy call on our Chambers-ranked energy team to navigate the complex mix of global markets and regulation across six continents.

The history of energy is a volatile one, as markets shift under the pressure of extreme price swings, technology breakthroughs, geopolitical stresses, and environmental change. Yet from risk emerges opportunity: the possibility of making new discoveries, developing new markets, expanding value in existing businesses, and accessing new sources of capital.

Our team serves the electric power sector (conventional, nuclear, renewable, including wind and solar, and transmission), the oil and gas sector (upstream, midstream, and liquefied natural gas, refining, and petrochemicals), the water industry, and financial institutions, investment funds, project developers, state-owned enterprises, and public-private partnerships in the energy sector.

Our global energy practice is renowned for its work on multibillion-dollar energy transactions. Often involving multinational investment, first in country, or sector undertakings or novel structures, these deals encompass the development, financing, acquisition, and divestiture of both conventional and unconventional resources. Every major transaction is supported across disciplines by our corporate, regulatory, tax, environmental, antitrust, litigation, labor, employment, and benefits lawyers.

Morgan Lewis lawyers also have experience addressing and resolving the most complex energy regulatory issues across all spectra of the energy universe. By way of example, in the nuclear energy arena we helped obtain the first design certification, early site permit, and combined nuclear operating license ever issued in the United States and continue to address daily ongoing operational issues across the current US fleet of commercial reactors. Our distinguished electric energy lawyers help clients anticipate and negotiate complex regulatory issues in the areas of compliance and enforcement, audits and investigations, regional markets, reliability and cybersecurity, and corporate restructuring alternatives. In the oil and gas arena, our lawyers work with regulated and unregulated clients to develop innovative business solutions to ongoing challenges in regulation, including certification of new LNG facilities, exports and imports, ratemaking, tariff design, investigations, regulatory compliance, and trial and appellate litigation.

Our energy practitioners also handle high-stakes commercial disputes in courts throughout the United States. Globally, our team represents industry clients in international arbitrations, alternative dispute proceedings, anticorruption, sanctions, export/import issues, and high-profile government and internal investigations.