Oil and gas in Argentina

The ‘undoubted reference point of the sector’, Martínez de Hoz & Rueda is the market leader in the energy sector’s oil and gas segment, advising key industry players on all aspects of  hydrocarbons exploration, production, transportation, distribution and marketing. The practice has enormous experience in oil and gas transactions of all types (including M&A), regulatory issues, and dispute resolution, as well as contract origination and renegotiation. It is also at the forefront of developing areas such as green hydrogen as the industry confronts energy transition. Given this specialisation the firm maintains an office in Neuquén (the only major law firm to do so) and also has an international practice focused on hydrocarbons projects and transnational gas pipelines (and associated contracts), involving across the region. The 12-strong practice is led by a trio of partners – all ‘respected professionals of the highest level‘. Senior partner José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz (a ‘guarantee of reliability and expertise‘) advises on the largest projects, transactions, contract negotiations and disputes in the oil and gas area, and is also a member of the ICC’s International Court of Arbitration. He co-leads the group with Pablo Rueda, whose broad transactional and regulatory energy practice spans oil, gas and electricity (including renewables), as does that of Tomás Lanardonne, head of the Vaca Muerta office, who also handles associated arbitral and litigious matters. Marcos Blanco and Valeria Celesti are noted among the group of ‘responsive‘ ‘young associates that complement the senior lawyers and partners very well’,

Bomchil’s November-2020 incorporation of former, longstanding energy-boutique Alliani & Bruzzon is a win-win combination of industry-sector expertise and the resources of a full-service firm. The deeply experienced oil-and-gas team has experience throughout exploration, production, transportation and refining, and is also active in the gas segment and in mining matters. Former name-partner Pablo Alliani is practice head of the new department; a well-known and highly-regarded industry figure, he primarily advises on regulatory matters, hydrocarbons contracts and M&A activity in the sector. Fellow partners Fernando Brunelli and Cristian Galansky focus on transactional matters and the full-range of oil and gas contracts; and contentious energy matters (arbitral and litigious), respectively; while former of counsel Alejandro D’Onofrio brings particular expertise in mining (as well as his oil and gas know-how). The groups arrived with a small team of associates ensuring that the firm can now field a 16-strong team which can also call on the experience of administrative law partner María Inés Corrá in gas disputes and of Fermín Caride in energy-sector financings.

Bruchou, Fernández Madero & Lombardi focuses on the generation and development of large E&P upstream companies with interests in the development of unconventional hydrocarbons in Argentina. YPF is a new client, joining industry players including Vista Oil & Gas and Equinor Argentina on the firm's roster. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the practice has also been increasingly active in contractual and commercial negotiations and renegotiations. A ‘real expert on legal matters related to the oil industry, especially in the Argentine environment’, Javier Rodríguez Galli leads the practice with key support from a group of primarily corporate-side senior associates: Santiago Balbi, Matías Leguizamón and Nicolás Dulce. Recent matters saw the firm advise Vista Oil & gas Argentina on a $250m investment agreement with Trafigura Argentina for the joint development of 20 oilwells in the Bajada del Palo Oeste block.

Particularly known for its natural-gas expertise, Marval O’Farrell Mairal is active across the spectrum of upstream and downstream oil and gas issues. The firm provides a full service in the area that covers large litigation, regulatory advice and transactional matters, representing buyers and sellers. Another forte for the practice is cross-border work, where the practice advises leading hydrocarbon players in local and international matters. HIghly-regarded and with over 20 years’ experience, Francisco MacÍas specialises in oil and gas transactions, contracts and regulatory matters. He co-heads the 15-strong practice group with transactional and financing expert Ricardo W Beller ; he too has over 20 years’ experience and a longstanding focus on oil and gas matters. The pair can also call on the expertise of senior figure, of counsel Arturo Pera, a former head of legal at Total and vice-president of the Argentine Association of Energy Law and Mineral Resources. At associate level, key support comes from the ‘excellent‘ Jimena Montoya, who ‘always goes above and beyond‘; and experienced banking and finance practitioner Agustina Ranieri, who undertakes financing matters in the sector. Since publication, Beller has departed the firm to join PAG Law in New York - effective as of May 2022.

Beccar Varela's multidisciplinary practice has a ‘great track record in hydrocarbons' legal issues in Argentina’, as well as providing ‘knowledge and professionalism in its concepts issued and procedures carried out’. The team represents clients across all stages of the industry, including exploration, upstream, downstream and service suppliers, offshore projects and energy-use efficiency initiatives, and is very experienced in sector-specific agreements such as farm-ins/outs, production sharing, joint ventures, EPC and operating agreements; it also advises on bidding processes, the drafting of concession agreement and the renegotiating of concession contracts. On the regulatory front, it works at both national and provincial levels, as well as on cross-border deals, and assisting with market entry strategies. With 20 years as a partner at the firm, José Carlos Cueva is an all-round energy-expert (electricity, renewables, oil and gas) with tremendous experience; he co-leads the team with finance specialist Roberto Fortunati, who has ‘extensive experience in oil and gas’ and additionally, an ‘excellent advisor’ on company dynamics, having spent time in house at Amoco Oil Company, among others. Senior associate Gonzalo Viña can also count on in house experience (at Petroquimica Comodoro Rivadavia), and focuses on natural resources and energy law as well as having experience in dispute resolution and corporate law matters. The practice was further strengthened in March 2021 with the arrival of Ricardo Castañeda, former head of legal at YPF Luz, who brings expertise in M&A, corporate, project finance and energy law. However, former senior associate Lucila Parodi moved inhouse at Livent in February 2021.

As well as ‘great knowledge of the law industry’, Mitrani Caballero & Ruiz Moreno Abogados has a ‘high level of contacts that allows it to understand legal requirements and anticipate responses’. The practice advises domestic and foreign clients across the spectrum of oil and gas issues, with key strengths being structuring upstream assignments, farm-outs and downstream corporate M&A, as well as assisting midstream developers construct infrastructure pipelines. The firm is also recommended for the ‘flexibility it has had to work in the times of pandemic’. Team leader Mariana Ardizzone combines ‘excellent service, promptness and good availability’, with ‘great knowledge of the industry’. Other key figures in the practice group include María Recondo, whose practice straddles corporate matters and energy and natural resources - her prior experience includes time at both Tecpetrol and YPF; and Horacio Ruiz Moreno, who heads the firm's administrative law and business regulation practice - he has acted as the statutory controller of entities such as Ecogas, Gas Natural Ban and Transportadora de Gas del Sur. On the corporate and finance fronts, Julio Martínez has deep knowledge of transactional and financing matters across the entire energy sector, as does Diego Parise (who led on Raízen's $950m acquisition of Shell's downstream assets back in 2018), while Aixa Sureda is more fully focused on energy sector M&A.

Nicholson y Cano Abogados has an established reputation in oil and gas matters having participated in a number of novel mandates in the sector, including the first joint ventures and financings in shale segment (Loma Campana and El Orejano) and the structuring of Aleph as the first independent midstream company in Argentina. The practice advises throughout the energy supply chain from upstream (where its clients include YPF, Quatar Petroleum, Chevron and BP), midstream (Aleph, TGS), downstream (YPF, BP Castrol, Raizen, Trafigura) and in the oil-services segment (Schlumberger Group, Perez Companc Energía). Practice heads Nicolás Perkins and Marcelo Lamesa have extensive experience of the energy sector -particularly matters such as farm in and farm out contracts, asset acquisition and the assignment of concession rights- and work into the sector from the corporate and banking/finance sides, respectively. Mariana Guzian is the third partner in the core team and she too has a corporate and energy sector profile. In addition, the team can also call on supplementary practice areas including its long-established environmental practice (under the leadership of Horacio Payá), and its unique business and human rights practice (under the leadership of Alfredo Vitolo); as well as labour, litigation, tax and antitrust.

O'Farrell has a solid reputation in the oil and gas area, built on the back of its participation in the sector since the privatization processes of the 1990s and the various subsequent economic and regulatory scenarios endured by the industry. More recently the practice has established a track record in the development of unconventional oil and gas resources, including in Vaca Muerta, and the team can also draw on the firm's experience in infrastructure, public utility and procurement matters, to assist with bid processes, all types of transactional matters and regulatory matters - particularly concerning tariff review procedures. Four key partners head the practice: senior partner Uriel O’Farrell (corporate work, M&A and energy transactions, regulation and disputes); economic regulations specialist Agustin Siboldi (hydrocarbons exploration, concession, exploitation and distribution; gas production, transport, distribution and commercialization); Agustina Fanelli Evans (advisory on regulatory, administrative and constitutional matters; renegotiation of public contracts, tariff claims and litigious matters); and Juan Pablo Fratantoni (M&A, joint ventures, energy-sector investment, foreign investments and company law). At associate level, senior María Fortuna and intermediates Ana Belén Micciarelli and Nicolás Vázquez all have experience advising on public law and economic regulation.

With broad experience ranging from strategic transactions to innovative investments, Pérez Alati, Grondona, Benites & Arntsen’s practice ‘stands out for its high specialisation, commercial vision and international experience’. The firm is also well regarded for its ‘agility and transparency in billing and an openness to technology in order to allow access to information’. Key strengths of the practice include due diligence, acquisitions, financings, securities issuance and regulatory matters across the energy sector. Francisco Javier Romano is recommended for his ‘knowledge of international LNG contracts and experience in comparative oil and gas regimes, particularly in Latin America’. A ‘benchmark in energy matters‘ according to clients, Romano has some 25 years’ experience in the sector and was formerly in house at Chevron for over a decade; he co-leads the team with fellow senior-partner, corporate and cross-border financing specialist Alan Arnsten, whose industry focus includes energy – he also has noteworthy infrastructure M&A experience. Environmental law input comes from counsel Nicole Jaureguiberry and the group was further strengthened with the March-2020 hire of Joaquín Ojeda Goncalves as a senior associate of the Administrative Law, Regulation and Public Services department. The firm recently established an alliance with the Neuquén-based Brillo Abogados to further its presence in the province. Since publication, Jaureguiberry has been raised to the partnership - effective January 2022.

Notable for its strong roster of Chinese clients in the hydrocarbons sector, Alfaro-Abogados has also accrued both local and regional clients -such as Compañía General de Combustibles and Petrobras (Brazil)- and oilfield service companies such as Parker Drilling, Kidde (UTC) and Bivort. The team is active on both the transactional and regulatory sides of the oil and gas industry, and with offices in New York and Buenos Aires, as well as a China Desk in Beijing, the firm provides expertise in international and multijurisdictional matters. Carlos Alfaro specialises in the financing of large infrastructure projects including those in the hydrocarbons area. He co-leads the team with Sebastián Rodrigo, whose experience covers regulatory matters, project finance and energy / natural resources. Rodrigo, who primarily represents representing Brazilian, Chinese and US companies in Argentina, also has expertise in reorganisations, such as those of Centrál Térmica Guemes and CGC.

Undertaking tailor-made work, Allende & Brea has a 50-year history in the energy and natural resources sector. If best known today for its market-leading mining practice, the firm has nevertheless been re-building its presence in the oil and gas segment, where it advises clients on both corporate and regulatory matters. The six-strong, multidisciplinary team has extensive industry knowledge - particularly regarding contractual, regulatory, environmental, tax and financing issues - along with profound experience of transactions in heavily-regulated sectors. The practice is led by senior partner Florencia Heredia who has expertise across the energy and natural resources sector (including forestry and fisheries), as well as on environmental matters and corporate sustainability. Additional partner involvement comes from Marcos Patron Costas who advises local and foreign clients on cross-border M&A and project-finance transactions, with a primary focus on the energy industry. Currently undertaking a post-graduate qualification in hydrocarbons and energy industry regulation, key associate Agostina Martinez has a specialisation in international oil and gas law, contracts and negotiations.