The activities of Chevron Nigeria, a subsidiary of American multinational energy company, are supported by a legal team headed by Ned Mojuetan, a well-recognised lawyer in Nigeria with 20 years’ in-house experience working for the company. The Nigerian team has a positive reputation for its ever increasing ability to utilise strategic thinking, to be innovative and quickly adapt to changing business needs in the country’s energy sector.

The team is also known for its ability to influence Chevron’s strategy in the wider region: ‘Our department has emphasised early lawyer involvement in a dynamic business environment to enable proactive, business-focused and pragmatic solutions, while also continuing to champion compliance and adherence to legal requirements’, Mojuetan states. In 2015, working alongside a joint venture partner, the team contributed to securing a $1.2bn financing package from a consortium of several international and local banks, to undertake a multi-year drilling program in both the onshore and near-offshore region in Nigeria. Recognising the strategic importance of supporting high impact projects that can deliver near term production and bankable cash flow, the financing program will boost production, replace diminishing reserves and address perennial challenges in funding upstream activities.

In addition, the team has been involved in the successful divestment of a number of onshore producing assets and the subsequent litigation that was successfully appealed to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Operating in a climate of falling oil prices, Chevron’s legal team in Nigeria has been crucial in providing the company with proactive advice aimed at preserving value in the face of protracted economic downturn in the world’s energy sector and the resulting adverse impact on the financial capabilities of Chevron’s clients.