Key team members:

Pedro Krusse Neves, General Counsel

Daniel Chrispim, Head of Legal for Upstream

Marta Marques Castro, Head of Legal for Industrial, Procurement and Technology

João Eduardo Correia, Head of Legal for Power Generation & Trading, Regulation and Public Law

Maria Dolores Devoto, Head of Legal for Oil & Gas Energy Management

Jorge Carita Simão, Head of Legal for Commercial and Litigation

Maria João da Luz, Head of Legal for Employment

Joana Marques da Cruz, Head of Legal for Finance, Capital Markets and ESG

Mónica Barreto, Head of Legal for Artificial Intelligence and Data Protection

Inês Figueira, Head of Legal for Knowledge Management and Legal Operations

Team size: 45 (27 in Lisbon, 11 in Madrid, and 7 in Rio de Janeiro).

Jurisdictions your role covers: Portugal, Spain, and Brazil constitute our primary jurisdictions. In addition, we cover a few African jurisdictions, which are necessarily supported by external lawyers.

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

One of the most strategic initiatives has been the advancement of industrial-scale decarbonisation at Galp’s Sines hub, the country’s largest industrial unit. Legal was embedded from the outset in structuring two major investments: a green hydrogen plant (100 MW electrolysis capacity) and a renewable diesel/HVO unit (270 kt/y), together representing a €650mn investment. We advised on the joint venture structure with Mitsui for the green hydrogen plant, secured regulatory authorisations, and led the negotiation of financing agreements with the European Investment Bank for both plants. Our work helped keep the project on track for a mid-2026 expected start, strengthening Galp’s position in decarbonisation.

At the same time, the team supported reshaping Galp’s upstream portfolio through two major divestments aimed at improving financial efficiency, advancing low-carbon objectives, and enabling asset rotation. The first was the sale of Galp’s stake in Mozambique’s Area 4, a cross-border deal with ADNOC, an oil and gas company wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, valued at up to approximately $1.15mn (including contingencies). The second was the divestment from the upstream business in Angola, marking another step away from carbon-intensive assets. These deals demonstrate legal’s role in efficiently managing complex, multi-jurisdictional transactions and providing strategic advice aligned with Galp’s capital discipline and decarbonisation ambitions.

Lastly, the team played a pivotal role in the Caxias Living Lab, one of Portugal’s most advanced local energy community pilots, which directly impacts consumers and communities. The project integrates shared solar generation, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging across public buildings and homes. Legal developed a bespoke contractual framework to govern energy sharing and grid connection within an evolving regulatory landscape. This work highlights our ability to navigate innovative legal challenges and support Galp’s leadership in pioneering consumer-centric energy solutions.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?

We handle approximately 60% of legal work internally, with outsourcing limited to matters that require specific jurisdiction expertise, specialised skills, or independent advice. This includes high-stakes arbitration, litigation, competition matters, and selected M&A transactions. In each case, the decision to outsource is assessed not just on technical need, but on how the external resource complements our internal capabilities.

External counsels are regarded as strategic partners rather than just external lawyers who handle isolated tasks. Each mandate is led internally by a team member responsible for project managing the legal strategy, maintaining cost discipline, and ensuring business alignment. Our evaluation framework includes criteria such as quality of legal reasoning, responsiveness, clarity of communication, and value for money. Importantly, we also assess our advisors’ understanding of Galp’s business priorities and expect our partners to reflect those priorities in the teams they assign to us. Performance is evaluated after each major engagement and reviewed annually across our panel. Additionally, every three years, we adjust our restricted panel of law firms through a competitive selection process, which helps ensure both stability and effective price management.

How does your team contribute to the overall business strategy of the company? Can you share an example of a recent legal-led initiative that had a significant impact?

Our legal department sits at the core of Galp’s Corporate Center, providing strategic advisory support to both the Corporate Center and business units, either directly or indirectly. We engage early in business initiatives to help shape opportunities and guide decision-making, ensuring legal alignment with Galp’s broader strategic goals while enabling effective risk management.

A recent example of our impact was during the 2025 Iberian power blackout (“apagão”), a critical operational disruption affecting the entire region. Legal played an essential advisory role in real time – supporting crisis management efforts by assessing potential liabilities, advising on regulatory communications, and interpreting contractual force majeure and continuity provisions. This involvement was vital in helping Galp maintain operational resilience and safeguard critical services during the incident. It also reinforced the importance of embedding legal expertise in business continuity planning, ensuring that Galp is prepared for future crises in a way that aligns with its strategic priorities.

What are some of the biggest legal or regulatory challenges currently facing your industry, and how is your team preparing to address them?

The energy sector faces significant geopolitical and operational risks, as well as persistent regulatory uncertainty. From a legal perspective, our role is to enable Galp to operate confidently amid this complexity while safeguarding long-term strategic flexibility.

A major challenge is the impact of global geopolitics on energy markets and investments. Changes in supply chains, resource dependencies, and political risk in key jurisdictions have legal implications across upstream, infrastructure, and new energy projects. Our legal supports Galp by structuring deals with protective measures and advising on portfolio optimisation through divestments and joint ventures, helping ensure long-term viability in shifting external conditions.

Operational disruptions, such as the 2025 Iberian blackout mentioned above, highlighted the importance of legal and regulatory readiness in crisis management. During the incident, Legal provided real-time support by assessing liabilities, coordinating regulatory communications, and advising on contractual force majeure and continuity provisions. This reinforced the need to embed legal expertise within business continuity and response frameworks – as an essential part of operational and safety resilience.

Regulatory uncertainty persists around tariffs and mechanisms such as “stop the clock” and omnibus amendments, requiring ongoing legal vigilance to protect Galp’s interests. In the Iberian renewables sector, persistent obstacles include well-known permitting delays and, as a more specific example, challenges with the issuance, recognition, and harmonisation of Guarantees of Origin between Portugal and Spain. Additionally, regulatory fragmentation across our international footprint presents ongoing challenges due to rapidly changing licensing, fiscal policies, and political environments. We manage these pressures through local legal expertise supported by central coordination to ensure our business responses remain clear and consistent. Meanwhile, broader regulatory frameworks such as REMIT II, reinforced by the Draghi Report, underscore the growing convergence between financial and energy markets. his trend raises new legal considerations, particularly in areas like market transparency, insider information, and market behaviour, which require close coordination between legal and trading teams. In parallel, digital regulation and cybersecurity remain key areas of focus, with emerging requirements in data protection, technology oversight, and evolving legislation such as the AI Act and MiCA (as applicable).

To meet these challenges, our legal team remains accessible, responsive, and technically proficient, providing pragmatic advice tailored to Galp’s business needs. We work collaboratively across business units and the corporate centre, ensuring alignment and agility in decision-making. By embedding legal counsel early in project planning and operational processes, we support risk-informed business opportunities rather than reacting solely to issues as they arise.