‘Professional and confident’, Francisco Simão receives praise for his strong character, personality and professionalism, as well as for his ability to analyse ‘every possible angle of a situation’. Employed as a managing counsel and vice president for legal affairs in Angola at BP, Simão provides legal support to the company’s local exploration and production portfolio, which includes blocks 18 and 31 in the deep and ultra-deep waters of the Congo basin and blocks 15 and 17 in the deep waters of the Kwanza and Benguela basins.

Besides successfully managing some of the most important contracts in the subsea sector in Angola, Simão’s two-and-a-half year tenure at in his current role has been marked by his impressive work to devise solutions to particularly complex and sensitive legal matters.

To this effect, he worked on several rig contracts for the company whilst Angola was experiencing its oil boom and was part of the negotiations team that worked on BP’s four pre-salt blocks that were awarded in 2011. In addition to his role at BP, Simão also served as chairman of the legal subcommittee of the Oil and Gas Industry Body and is one of the coordinators of AIPN in Angola. Simão has previously worked in private practice in Angola and at a major multinational law firm in South Africa.