About

Shelf Drilling is an international shallow water jack up drilling contractor offering drilling services for international oil and gas companies operating in the Middle East, South East Asia, India, West Africa and the Mediterranean. The legal department has been the core support of many strategic projects that contributed to the growth of the company since 2012 following its initial fleet acquisition. The four-person multicultural, internationally qualified legal team is based in the company’s Dubai headquarters and supports the global operations of Shelf Drilling. Shelf Drilling has been active in the capital markets in 2018, with a new bond issue in January, an add-on and an equity IPO. In early May 2018, the company decided to pursue an IPO on the Oslo Stock Exchange and opted for the “fast track” listing process which entailed a process which was to be completed in six weeks. Dzul Bakar, vice president, general counsel and secretary, leads the legal team and had the following to say about this project: ‘The IPO exercise was the most challenging and intense assignment undertaken by the team in coordination with our external advisors from a compressed timeline and workload standpoint but ultimately on June 26, Shelf Drilling was officially listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange’. The team also has three senior lawyers: Katie Weir, associate general counsel and corporate secretary; Srini Nurani, associate general counsel and head of compliance; and Khalida Popal, legal counsel. The team combines English, Australian, Indian and Malaysian qualifications with 65 years of legal experience between them. The team’s hard work over the last year and specifically three members of the team are particularly highlighted by Bakar. He says that Weir showed an ‘outstanding contribution on the various board and corporate governance aspect of the company, and was instrumental to the various 2018 significant milestones including the IPO‘. On Nurani, Bakar said that he ‘[made an] outstanding contribution in the leading the compliance and ethics function globally’ while Popal ‘made an outstanding contribution in managing the legal operations of the company globally’.