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Energy Law

Keevican Weiss & Bauerle established its Energy Law Practice Group to provide a broad range of legal services to its clients in the energy industry. From complex securities law to forming international joint ventures, our ability to meet a wide array of legal needs within the energy industry has enabled us to become intimately familiar with the current issues and future trends of our clients.

Leading its Energy Law Practice Group, Managing Director Lee Keevican has served as general counsel to a large regional developer and producer of oil and gas properties. He and other members of Keevican Weiss & Bauerle have assisted developers, producers and lenders with properties in the Appalachian Basin (New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky).

A snapshot of the industry-specific services Keevican Weiss & Bauerle’s Energy Law Practice Group has provided to its clients include:

  • Private syndications to raise equity for exploration and drilling.
  • Feasibility assessments of proposed alternative energy projects.
  • Production payment financing for drillers.
  • Working capital financing for established producers.
  • Real estate title and contract work for producers, drillers and lenders.
  • Purchase and sale of oil and gas interests.
  • Oil and gas loan workouts, including secured party sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure.
  • International fundraising and Algerian and Russian drilling and pipeline contracts.
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Our extensive work in the energy industry also includes work with most of the leading coal and coal industry-related companies in the United States, including 78 of the 150 members of the American Iron and Steel Institute and a majority of the members of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association.

The following representative transactions reflect the depth of experience Keevican Weiss & Bauerle’s Energy Law Practice Group offers to its clients.

  • Conducted a feasibility assessment to determine the economics and potential for commercialization of a large-scale coal gasification facility in Pennsylvania.
  • Represented a Midwestern financial institution with secured extension of credit to seasoned oil and gas producers and developmental drilling partnerships with properties in the Appalachian Basin, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana. Representation totaled over 50 transactions, involving over $200 million and stretching over 15 years.
  • Represented one of the largest oil and gas producers in the United States in its funding activities, completing twenty syndications and raising over $100,000,000 for development activities.
  • Served as Pennsylvania counsel for JP Morgan Chase in significant nine figure credit facilities a large limited partnership.
  • Represented a public oil and gas producers in the sale of oil and gas interests, valued at $50MM, to an international private equity group.
  • Represented a large international private equity group in the $25MM financing provided by BNP Paribas to purchase oil and gas interests in Pennsylvania.
  • Organized a company to explore a 8,300 kilometer tract in Algeria, assisting the company in all phases of its start-up and operations, including negotiation of a joint venture with the Algerian national oil company and assistance in raising through a multi-national private placement approximately $30 million for its initial exploration activity and in going public on the London AIM Stock Market.
  • Represented a regional investment banking firm in connection with the underwriting of a successful exchange offer in which interests in more than 10 oil and gas partnerships were exchanged for shares of stock of a publicly-traded corporation.
  • Represented lenders and developers in numerous oil and gas transactions in Louisiana, gaining extensive experience with the unique aspects of funding and extracting mineral interests under Louisiana law, which is based on the French Napoleonic Code rather than British common law.
  • Guided an oil and gas lender through over $50 million of workouts of numerous troubled loans, secured party sales of distressed energy properties, and acceptance of deeds to energy properties in lieu of foreclosure and then through reworking and selling the properties.
  • Assisted financial institutions in developing and implementing a highly successful and profitable program for extending secured credit to accredited investors to invest in developmental drilling partnerships, known as the SAIF Program (Secured Accredited Investor Financing Program).
  • Sold 86 oil and gas wells located in three counties in Pennsylvania to a privately held oil and gas company.
  • Structured and completed numerous financings for a publicly traded oil and gas company including more than $1 billion of senior debt financing.
  • Restructured oil and gas trusts into partnerships, enabling the investors, who invested over $35 million, to avoid adverse tax treatment.
  • On behalf of a United Kingdom based mining and minerals company, we acquired the West Virginia mining operations of a publicly traded St. Louis based company and the West Virginia operations of a Philadelphia based publicly traded coal company.
  • Completed a variety of acquisitions and ultimate disposition on behalf of the largest non-union surface mining company in the United States.
  • Represented management in management's buy-out bid for the largest mining machinery manufacturer in the United States.
  • Structured and negotiated the proposal for a management buy-out of a national mine service company.
  • Renegotiated coal supply agreements with a New England utilities company, a Delaware utilities company and a Western New York utilities company to significantly alleviate the financial burden of the agreements imposed upon our client.
  • Negotiated the purchase and sale of coal reserves owned by a large, publicly traded company in the Southern Illinois basin.
  • Purchased a 300-acre West Virginia limestone mine from a Texas based publicly traded energy company.
  • Represented the purchaser in the acquisition of a 155-acre gob pile from a national steel company and in its subsequent resale of the property
  • Represented the Australian purchaser of coal recovery technology. The representation included negotiations with a United States steel company for the recovery of coal from a large West Virginia waste coal site.
  • Financed the acquisition of substantial coal reserves in West Virginia and Virginia for an international mining company.
  • Represented the senior secured lender in providing an $8 million senior credit facility to a privately owned aggregates company.
  • Served as mid-west regional counsel to senior lenders providing a $1.2 billion senior secured credit facility to a United Kingdom based international aggregates company.
  • Structured and completed innovative financing that permitted the Bituminous Coal Operators Association's member companies to fund health and welfare benefit obligations to the United Mine Workers of America 1975 pension plan trust.
  • Acquired, on behalf of the largest coal company in the United Kingdom, fifteen coal companies throughout the United States and negotiated commercial transactions with many of the leading American utilities.
  • Assisted manufacturer of equipment used to monitor coal-fired boiler emissions in connection with general matters, ultimately including the sale of the business for approximately $20 million to a British public company.
  • Represented a diversified energy company in its public offering of 3,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • Represented a diversified energy company in the public offering of medium-term notes in the principal amount of $100,000,000.
  • Provided representation in connection with tax issues relating to the formation of a limited company for the mining of coal.
  • Represented a privately held commercial coke manufacturer in connection with the negotiation, execution and delivery of certain license agreements pertaining to the licensing of intellectual property to be used in connection with the design, construction and operation of a prototype char producing facility.
  • Represented the owner of a 50-acre coal refuse pile in the license of such for an ash disposal site and fuel source for a co-generation facility.
  • Counseled management with respect to representation elections, negotiated labor agreements with the United Mine Workers of America and filed actions against the United Mine Workers of America regarding work stoppages and strikes.
  • Served as corporate general counsel in the initial public offering of a leading finisher and supplier of oil country tubular goods, successfully raising over $33 million in fresh equity capital.
  • Served as special company counsel for the registration of $110 million of common stock on behalf of a diversified energy resources company in its first public offering of common stock in over 40 years.
  • Served as counsel to the issuer of depository units valued at approximately $120 million representing interests in a natural gas net profits interests trust.
  • Preparation of $500,000,000 shelf registration of debt securities for a regional utility company.
  • Provided representation to the creditors committee in the Chapter 11 proceedings of Pennsylvania's largest independent coal company.
  • Represented purchasers of coal assets out of bankruptcy and represented secured lenders in Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 proceedings.
  • Represented a national coal company in connection with the reorganization of one of its subsidiaries.
  • Litigated numerous cases for coal companies relating to acquisition related problems, the interpretation of mining leases, escalation provisions in coal supply agreements, contractual remedy provisions of coal transportation agreements, private nuisance actions and anti-trust suits involving allegations of price fixing.
  • Provided environmental counseling to companies engaged in both underground and surface coal mining and oil and gas well operations in issues related to solid and hazardous waste, superfund liability, water pollution, air pollution, mining permit issues, acid mine drainage, reclamation, closure and bonding issues and environmental reporting requirements.
  • Successfully represented large utility in the first self-disclosure - nationwide - under U.S. EPA's Interim Self Policing and Voluntary Self-Disclosure policy issued in April 1995, negotiation of which involved the U.S. EPA headquarters.
  • Represented a utility company in connection with environmental matters associated with natural gas transmission.
  • Arranged permitting required by national coal company to construct and operate a major new facility and related creation and implementation of program to acquire energy reduction credits necessary for operation of the new facility.
  • Represented a natural gas companies in connection with the sale of trust interests and limited partnership interests in natural gas drilling programs.
  • Provided general representation of an electric utility service provider, including the formation of strategic alliances, capital formation, acquisitions and general contract matters.
  • Represented a heavy hauling crane company in connection with a joint venture contract to remove and move from cradle to grave the reactor pressure vessel for final disposal at the nuclear burial grounds for a nuclear power plant.
  • Representation of a national oil company in connection with the defense of claims by nearly 500 current or former residents of a community surrounding the facilities, or their estates, that the facilities have dramatically increased the incident of cancer.
  • Representation of a crane company in a $130 million damage claim arising from a crane failure at a polypropylene plant expansion project. During the accident the crane dropped the new reactor vessel during installation causing service damage.
  • Representation of an oil and gas company in connection with an appeal of a $30 million verdict in favor of plaintiffs with respect to claims arising from an alleged contamination and claims against a consortium of insurance companies for insurance coverage.
  • Under a long-term coal supply agreement, an electric utility committed to purchase over 2,000,000 tons of coal annually from our client, a major United States coal producer. In an effort to reduce its annual purchases by more than one-quarter of a million tons, the utility employed various reinterpretations of the contract. After a lengthy arbitration proceeding, we secured an order requiring the utility to purchase the full contract tonnage for the remaining 13 years of the agreement which represented in excess of 30,000,000 tons of coal.
  • Counseled a public utility through an eighteen month wage and hour investigation that resulted in no claim from the Department of Labor.
  • Represented a company in the energy industry by securing pollution tax credits and grants from the Department of Energy (the "DOE").
  • Represented defendants in equity action, wherein plaintiff sought both emergency and permanent injunctive relief against defendants for alleged violations of a right-of-way agreement that ran over and across the land owned by the plaintiff.
  • Represented a utility company in connection with a grievance filed by a union employee.

Attorneys

Leo A. Keevican

Managing Director

James F. Bauerle

Director of Legal and Business Services

Donald E. Ambrose

Financial Services & Energy Law