Edward Poitevent is of counsel in the New Orleans office of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC. His practice focuses on all phases of domestic and international energy/mineral law and natural resources law.
Mr. Poitevent has served as counsel to a wide range of interests in the energy industry, with an emphasis on exploration and production companies, pipeline companies, independent power producers and royalty owners. His representations cover virtually every aspect of legal and regulatory matters affecting energy exploration, production, sales, transmission, refining and use.
Mr. Poitevent has represented producers and operators active in the United States, with emphasis on Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico operations, in connection with such matters as the negotiation and drafting of asset purchase agreements, mergers and acquisitions, volumetric production payments, participation, voluntary unitization, farmout and joint operating agreements, gas and product sales contracts, financing agreements, contracts for LNG terminals, natural gas pipeline and storage contracts, and energy litigation.
Mr. Poitevent has served as counsel to financial institutions for mineral- and borrowing-based financing transactions for onshore and offshore fields, and has advised clients in connection with the acquisition and financing of many onshore and offshore fields. He also has an active practice representing natural gas pipelines and has represented product pipelines in various matters.
Domestic
- Lead counsel for an established oil and gas company for an $82 million dollar purchase of producing properties and related assets in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore Texas and Louisiana
- Lead counsel for $282 million merger of entity with leases in Louisiana state waters and OCS (offshore Louisiana and Texas) and production for major Australian energy company
- Lead counsel for $85 million company acquiring producing leases and related assets offshore Louisiana and Texas for major domestic energy company
- Lead counsel for major interstate pipeline in connection with construction and acquisition of right-of-way, including filing and litigating condemnation/expropriation cases, for two separate pipelines covering more than 350 miles in Louisiana
- Farmout, participation and development agreements for onshore Gulf Coast and offshore oil and gas fields (Louisiana and Texas)
- Natural gas volumetric production payment and prepayment transactions
- Farmout and development of Gulf of Mexico fields for deep gas reserves
- Acquisition and development of West Texas fields for oil and gas development
- Participation agreement for West Texas field
- Acquisition and structuring of major package of land-related assets in Louisiana (fee, mineral royalty and working interest)
- Negotiate, structure and finalize agreement with exploration company for development of Tribal lands in Utah
- Mineral law issues for largest Louisiana landowner and major owner of timber and minerals in Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama
- Financing of interests in producing fields in Louisiana and Texas
- Oil and gas development of 35,000 acres of South Louisiana marshlands, including 3-D seismic option
- Advices re: development issues involving North Louisiana minerals
- Advices re: litigation involving surface and subsurface environmental issues in producing Louisiana field
- Advices re: ownership dispute over large mineral acreage in Louisiana field
- Preparation and negotiation of Texas farmout agreement
- Gas sales contracts, processing agreements and related product sales agreements in West Texas field
- Negotiation of major package of Rockies gas for simultaneous prepaid gas contract sale to utility
- Vermilion Field production payment maintenance and gas imbalances
- Analysis and resolution of gas imbalance issues (onshore and offshore Louisiana fields)
- Throughput capacity lease for 300-mile crude oil pipeline in Mid-America
- Storage of natural gas in Gulf Coast salt dome (Napoleonville )
- Contracts for development and operation of salt dome cavern storage in Southwest Louisiana salt dome
- Development of coalbed methane and lignite reserves in North Louisiana
- Outer Continental Shelf operations and regulatory matters
- Major natural gas infrastructure contracts for deepwater Gulf of Mexico operations
- Contract for Gulf of Mexico FPSO operations
- Development and construction of platforms and pipelines for deepwater Gulf of Mexico operations
- Drilling contracts for Gulf of Mexico wells
- Negotiation and drafting of seismic agreement for Norwegian company for seismic operations in Gulf of Mexico for major integrated oil company
- Acquisition of Louisiana petroleum pipelines
- Louisiana intrastate pipeline acquisitions and operations
- Negotiation of energy supply/management services for large U.S. Southwest utility on behalf of major integrated oil company
- Terminal use agreement for LNG vaporization facility in the Gulf of Mexico
- Negotiate, draft and structure land-related documents for onshore Texas and Louisiana LNG vaporization facilities
- Contracts for operation of Louisiana and Texas intrastate pipeline companies
- Advise interstate natural gas pipeline on land-related issues for acquisition of right-s-of-way and related agreements for 140-mile natural gas pipeline in Southwest Louisiana
- Contracts to build/operate Louisiana 200 MW independent power project
- Purchase and sale of interstate natural gas pipeline
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certificates for Texas and Louisiana pipeline systems
International
- Lead outside counsel for negotiation and drafting of Share Purchase Agreement, Coal Supply Agreement and related documents for +/- $1 billion (USD) project in Turkey
- Lead outside counsel for negotiation and drafting of JV Agreement, and related agreements and documents for gold mine project in Turkey
- Implement and interpret contracts for operation of a major LNG liquefaction facility (largest in Western hemisphere) in Trinidad and the sale of LNG from the facility
- Assist law department of Trinidad liquefaction facility in numerous legal tasks, including arbitration issues, during 6 month secondment to company in Trinidad
- Implement and interpret contracts for sale of gas in Trinidad for LNG facility
- Draft Gas Vaporization and related agreements for proposed floating terminal in Gulf of Mexico for supermajor
- Analyze reserve issues for gas reserves offshore Angola
- Drafting contracts involving the development of Indonesian natural gas reserves and gas purchase and transportation contracts for the gas
- Draft and negotiate farmout for development of gas reserves offshore Nigeria
- Draft and negotiate series of contracts for development of gas reserves in Indonesia and development of pipeline infrastructure associated with same to sell gas to major consumer of gas
- Long-term crude oil import agreement for 1,000,000 barrels/mo. from Latin American state-owned oil and gas company
- Negotiate and draft operating contract for platforms in Gulf of Thailand
- Negotiate, draft and structure agreements for joint venture to conduct seismic operations in Mexico
- Negotiate, draft and structure agreements for joint venture to conduct seismic operations in Brazil
- Negotiate, draft and structure complicated agreements for conduct of seismic operations offshore Canada with supermajor
- "Due Diligence in Distressed Gas Acquisitions," Infocast, Houston, TX (2009)
- "Hydrocarbon Storage Facilities in Louisiana" and "Recent Caselaw and Regulatory Developments," Louisiana Oil and Gas Pipelines: Legal and Regulatory Issues, Half Moon Publications (2009)
- "Post-Production Deductions From Royalty," Petroleum Accounting and Financial Management Journal, Vols. 22 and 23 (Fall/Winter/Spring 2003 and 2004) (author)
- "State Regulation of Intrastate Oil and Gas Pipelines in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana,” Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Special Institute on Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines: Wellhead to End User (January 1995) (co-chair and co-author)
- "Post-Production Deductions From Royalty," South Texas Law Review, Vol. 44. No. 3 (Summer 2003) (author)
- "The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Concept of Adjacent State Law," Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation's OCS Short Course (Spring 2003) (co-author)
- "Moving Offshore Production to Market," Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation's OCS Short Course (Spring 2003) (co-author)
- "Wellhead Gas Balancing," Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Special Institute on Natural Gas (2001) (author)
- "Preferential Rights, Rights of First Refusal and Options: The Whys and Wherefores," American Association of Petroleum Landmen, New Orleans, Louisiana (June 2000) (co-author)
- International Energy Law and Taxation Review (former contributing editor)
- Chapter 25, "Outer Continental Shelf Leases and Operating Regulations," The Law of Federal Oil and Gas Leases (Matthew Bender) (co-editor)
- "Recent Developments on the Outer Continental Shelf," 47th Annual Institute on Oil and Gas Law and Taxation, Southeast Legal Foundation (1996) (co-author)
- "The Louisiana Mineral Code and the Civil Law Tradition," Oil and Gas Law & Taxation Review, Vol. 12, Issue 5 (1994)
- Former Council Member – American Bar Association's Section of Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law
- Member – American Association of Petroleum Landmen
- Co-chair – American Association of Petroleum Landmen Model Form Gas Balancing Agreement Committee
- Member – Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, Model Form Farmout Agreement Committee
- Member – Louisiana State Law Institute
- Member – Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation
- Former Trustee – Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and the Eastern Mineral Law Foundation
- Former member – Louisiana Mineral Institute governing body
- Euromoney/Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading Energy and Natural Resources Lawyers
- Euromoney/Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading Project Finance Lawyers
- Who's Who in American Law
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2007 in the areas of Energy Law and Oil & Gas Law
- Recognized as a "Top Lawyer" in Oil & Gas Law by New Orleans Magazine, 2010
- President – Leukemia Society of America, Inc. (Louisiana Chapter), 1990 – 1991
- Member – Board of Directors, Junior Achievement of Greater new Orleans, Inc. (1984 – 1990)
- Tulane University, J.D., 1974
- Tulane University, B.A., 1971
- Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carerre & Denegre, 1974 – 1991 (Partner)
- Phelps Dunbar LLP, 1991 – 2001 (Partner)
- King & Spalding LP, 2002 – 2004 (May) (Counsel)
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, 2004-2005 (November) (Senior Counsel)
- Baker, Donelson, Caldwell, Bearman & Berkowitz, PC 2005 – present (Of Counsel)