About

The legal team of four lawyers and one paralegal support the operation of Shell & Turcas Petrol, a joint venture between the Shell Company of Turkey, the Turkish subsidiary of the global energy company, and Turcas, Turkey’s leading oil and energy focused investment company. The team is led by Berç Germeyan Isik, head of legal for Turkey. In response to the challenges of operating in a competitive and challenging business environment, the legal team has been restructured to ensure the correct skills and experience are provided to support the business. The team worked with an IT company to develop a software database to support the drafting of dealer agreements, driving efficiency and promoting a more systematic way of working across the business. The legal team empowered the business by standardising and streamlining business processes in order to enable the efficient negotiation, vetting and signing of contracts. This created significant value by securing deals as quickly as possible and at the same time allowing effectively manage legal risk. As a result of the successful execution of the usufruct renewals, the Shell & Turcas Petrol team was awarded the “global competitive portfolio” award within Shell. In a industry where regulations tend to change frequently, the legal team ensures that it is up-to-date, or ahead of the curve where possible; effective and concise communication with the business means that the requisite actions for compliance are taken well in advance. ‘Besides working together with the business on implementation, we also ensure that we review secondary legislation for compliance and, in the case of non-compliance, take the necessary action. We have, together with the business, reviewed all of our agreements to assess and, where possible, mitigate the company’s exposure to pricing adjustments by the regulatory authority’, says Isik.