With a slowing global economy and falling oil prices, the pressure to reduce costs and improve operational performance has been nowhere more keenly felt than in the extractives sector. The team of 27 lawyers at South African petroleum company Engen has responded to this challenge by completely revising its approach to the delivery of legal services.

In recent months the team has introduced a sophisticated contract management package to ensure the processes involved in creating, organising, approving and storing contracts are standardised across Engen’s various divisions. This led to the company receiving the OpenText Visionary award for the best use of enterprise software. A parallel development has seen the team promoting the use of model contracts, freeing the legal function to focus on high-risk and high-value matters.

As part of this process, the lawyers conducted 1,500 work sessions across various departments to map the contracting process and identify the nuances required for a usable standard contract. The team has also driven the migration of Engen’s legislation compliance tracking from a paper-based system to an online system, enhancing its ability to follow and manage compliance. As part of the South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) legal committee, the legal team has been a prominent voice in directing the legislation and policy facing the industry. Faced with sometimes unpredictable and slow court processes, Engen has made a move toward alternative dispute resolution processes in recent months, and the legal team has played a big role in supporting this cost-effective approach to disputes. These many initiatives have placed great demands on the lawyers, but as Fiona Gumede, company secretary and general manager for legal, comments, they are driven by a desire to contribute to Engen’s success.

‘The team is a young, dynamic group with a passion for bridging the gap between the business’ requirements for speed, flexibility and commercially relevant decisions and support against the formal regulatory environment that Engen operates in. This is not always an easy task but this is made easier by virtue of the legal team’s commitment to demonstrate its desire to see Engen thrive’.