Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their roles within the department?

We have a very small team — there are four of us now. I am the general counsel for the Middle East, and I work closely with a very experienced senior legal counsel — Loretta Christensen. We have had a group of general counsel who has recently joined and a corporate secretary.

How do you feel that the pandemic has changed the world of work for in house counsel?

The pandemic has brought many challenges, especially working from home. Being an oil company in several jurisdictions — Norway, Iraq, the UK, and Dubai — we constantly had to supervise changes and restrictions in various countries. We had to have a complete overview and adopted a proactive approach, reaching out to police and guaranteeing the correct flow of information between offices and clients equally.

What do you think has changed in terms of your workload?

We needed to change how we worked to adapt to new market conditions, budgets and restrictions. The increase in oil prices has also impacted us.

We now have several Covid-19 protocols in place, but at first, it has been incredibly intense trying to adapt to the new world, having people spread between many countries. We have had to put in place quarantine requirements to avoid individuals bringing the virus on our premises.

There have been numerous issues, but now I am pleased to say that the pandemic and its implications have become a regular part of our daily business. We must always be dynamic and able to adapt to new scenarios quickly.

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months, and how do you intend to assist with this?

We want to keep guaranteeing the safety of our operation, maintaining and continuing increasing production.

Climate change and ESG issues are our priorities; therefore, we aim to conduct our operation accordingly. We continuously try to do our best to reduce our emissions, and we will continue on this line. We are, for instance, the only oil and gas company in Kurdistan that has established a gas reinjection installation.

Tonje Gormley
General counsel – Middle East
DNO International