Speaking Energy

2023 saw two megadeals in the oil & gas industry that have led to calls from environmental interest groups for the FTC to intervene despite a lack of obvious antitrust issues. Whether the FTC will sue to block the deals remains to be seen.

In Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station v. FERC,¹ decided on July 21, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ended long-running litigation over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC or “Commission”) approval of the Weymouth Compressor Station in Norfolk, Massachusetts. The Weymouth Compressor Station is part of the Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, L.L.C. Atlantic Bridge Project, which received a certificate under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) from FERC in 2017 (Docket No. CP16-9).² In Fore River, the court found that the petitioners, local residents, municipalities, and an environmental organization lacked Article III standing to challenge two orders issued by FERC after the certificate issued (1) a December 26, 2018, delegated order granting Algonquin a two-year extension of time to construct the facilities (the “Extension Order”)³ that was subsequently upheld by a full Commission order on February 21, 2020 (the “2020 Rehearing Order”);⁴ and (2) a January 20, 2022, denial of rehearing (the “2022 Rehearing Order”)⁵ of a September 24, 2020, order authorizing Algonquin to place the facilities in service (the “In-Service Extension Order”).⁶ It also dismissed the petitions as moot. 

Akin partners Matt Kapinos, Shariff Barakat and Sam Guthrie will be moderating panels and presenting at Infocast’s joint conferences CCS/Decarbonization Project Development, Finance & Investment and RNG & SAF Capital Markets that will explore current market perspectives, the latest developments, and what is on the horizon for carbon capture and renewable natural gas projects. The conference will take place July 24-26, 2023, in Houston, TX. Matt, Shariff and Sam would like to invite our Akin friends to receive a 15% discount to attend.

(Houston) – Akin Gump is pleased to announce it has released its “2020 Energy Year in Review,” which examines the current state of the global energy market and highlights the energy matters with which the firm was involved last year across the following areas:

• Mergers, Acquisitions & Strategic Transactions
• Capital Markets
• Financing
• Project Development
• Financial Restructuring
• Energy Litigation.

(Houston) – Akin Gump is pleased to announce it has released its “2019 Energy Year in Review,” which examines the current state of the global energy market and highlights the energy matters with which the firm was involved last year across the following areas:

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce jointly released the new Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for the Access of Foreign Investment (2019) in China (the “2019 Negative List”) on 30 June 2019. The 2019 Negative List reduces the number of “prohibited” or “restricted” industries from 48 to 40 and will come into force on 30 July 2019.

On December 3, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an order requesting the Solicitor General to weigh in on a case related to the legal status of some types of groundwater.¹ The catch? The Court’s order comes with an unusually expedited one-month deadline, a move that the Court rarely takes. This surprising action foreshadows the potential for an earlier-than-expected decision on an issue with deep ramifications for those in the energy industry.

Specifically, the Court aims to address a circuit split among the 4th, 5^th and 9th Circuits in determining whether only direct discharges to “navigable waters” (rivers, lakes and other surface waters, for example) are covered or whether groundwater that is “hydrologically connected to surface water” is subject to Clean Water Act (CWA) pollution discharge requirements.² Groundwater—that is, water held beneath the soil or in between rock structures—does not fall under CWA jurisdiction. Nevertheless, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for many years, maintained that pollutants that flow with a direct and immediate hydrologic connection through groundwater into surface waters are properly regulated under the CWA.³ Environmentalists agree with EPA’s long-standing position, while many in industry say that the agency is reaching beyond its scope.

We are pleased to share a recording of our energy briefing that took place last week, “The Global Energy Industry 2018: A Look to the Year Ahead.” Speakers included Akin Gump tax partner Alison Chen, oil and gas partner John Goodgame, global project finance practice co-head John Marciano, along with oil and gas partner Christine LaFollette as moderator. The topics covered included: