About

At the leading edge of the rapid expansion of liquid natural gas that is transforming energy markets around the world, Höegh LNG is the industry leader in the development, ownership, and operation of modern, floating LNG import terminals (FSRUs), providing the crucial energy infrastructure that connects geographically diverse markets to the global LNG trade. The company’s centralised legal department is comprised of three lawyers and one executive assistant, and offers legal services to the Höegh LNG group’s worldwide operation where each lawyer is responsible for identified business units within the group. Having joined the department in 2006, Camilla Nyhus-Møller has been a part of the whole company journey from the separation of the LNG business from Höegh Group’s other shipping activities to having two stock listed entities and FSRU operations in six countries, and today is the heads the department as senior vice president legal and compliance. Senior legal counsel Cathinka K. Rognsvåg joined the team in 2014 and ‘has played a vital role in FSRU start-ups and vessel financings’, according to Nyhus-Møller. The other team members are legal counsel Hallvard J. Høyem and the ‘very experienced’ executive legal assistant Veronica B. Sandnes. Despite its relatively small size, the team still manages to handle complex projects on time and on budget with Nyhus-Møller highlighting the following: ‘Höegh LNG has successfully developed and executed complex, fully integrated projects for top-tier global energy companies in Indonesia, Lithuania, Egypt, Colombia, Turkey and China, where the in-house legal team has worked closely with the business units to deliver the projects on budget and time. In addition, the legal team had a major role when the company joined a consortium with several energy majors to develop an LNG import project in Pakistan’. It also assists on Höegh LNG’s diversified funding strategy such as the launch of an US$120m at-the-market (ATM) equity raising program by the master limited partnership in the US equity market. Furthermore, the team has gained credit for helping the company enter into favourable and flexible debt facilities with commercial banks and export credit agencies. The latest was a US$177m debt financing for one of the vessel new buildings under construction at one of the largest shipyards in the world in South Korea. The facility comprises a 12-year tranche of US$132m guaranteed by K-SURE (a South Korean export credit agency) and a five-year non-amortising commercial bank tranche of US$45m. Highlighting the team’s success, one nominator had the following to say about them: ‘The in-house legal team at Höegh LNG deals comprehensively, timely and effectively with a huge range of issues associated with the operations of a company which operates in a wide-range of challenging jurisdictions around the world. It is an impressive, dedicated and hard-working team and their remarkable capacity and competence makes them worthy of this nomination’.