Canada - Canada • Energy and natural resources

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

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A popular choice for both major M&A and development projects, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP’s oil and gas group enjoys strong relationships with leading domestic and multinational oil and gas companies. Based in Calgary, the full-service group can additionally draw on teams from across its national network as required. Next-generation partner Christine Milliken co-heads the department; she recently paired up with Calgary office head  Ben Rogers to advise PrairieSky Royalty on its C$728m acquisition of 1.9m acres of royalty lands in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba from Heritage Royalty. Keith Byblow co-leads the practice and advised Canadian Pacific Railway Company on its C$30m Hydrogen Locomotive Program. Other transactional specialists include Chris Harris and Mungo Hardwicke-Brown. Alongside its commercial expertise, Terri-Lee Oleniuk spearheads a broad energy regulatory practice that includes Lars Olthafer and Katie Slipp. At the associate level, Ashton Menuz provides capable support on energy transactions.

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Key clients

  • Pembina Pipeline Corporation
  • Suncor Energy
  • TC Energy Corporation
  • Shell Canada Energy
  • Trans-Mountain Pipeline
  • PrairieSky Royalty
  • Strathcona Resources
  • Canadian Pacific Railway
  • Pacific Energy Corporation (Canada)
  • Cenovus Energy
  • Imperial Oil

Work highlights

  • Advised Pembina Pipeline Corporation on its C$11.4bn joint venture with KKR & Co to merge their Western Canadian natural gas processing assets.
  • Advised PrairieSky Royalty on the C$728m acquisition of 1.9m acres of royalty lands in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba from Heritage Royalty.
  • Advised Suncor on its participation in the British Columbia Utilities Commission inquiry into gasoline and diesel prices in BC and related matters regarding the Fuel Price Transparency Act.

Lawyers

Leading individuals

Mungo Hardwicke-Brown

Mungo Hardwicke-Brown

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Mungo advises primarily on M&A, joint ventures, corporate finance and major energy infrastructure industries with experience across all sectors, including petroleum, natural gas, oil sands, electricity, potash and other commodities, pipelines, storage, LNG terminalling and supply arrangements, power generation and transmission. Over half of these were international and cross-border and involved many specialized practice areas, including tax, regulatory, trade and competition, employment, pensions and litigation.  

Terri-Lee Oleniuk

Terri-Lee Oleniuk

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Terri-Lee’s practice focuses on project-related issues concerning natural-resource development with a specialization in regulatory, environmental and Aboriginal law issues. She acts for a variety of companies in environmental assessments and regulatory proceedings to obtain approvals for major developments in the oil and gas, pipeline, mining (including metal, potash and diamond), natural-gas processing, petrochemical, electricity transmission, hydro, solar, wind and storage sectors. Terri-Lee has appeared before the Canada Energy Regulator, the Alberta Energy Regulator, the Alberta Utilities Commission, the British Columbia Utilities Commission, the Alberta Natural Resources Conservation Board, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, and federal-provincial joint review panels in respect of environmental assessment proceedings.

Lars Olthafer

Lars Olthafer

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Lars advises and represents upstream oil and gas producers, pipeline and midstream companies, and electrical generation and transmission companies on regulatory and environmental compliance and facility approval processes, tolls and tariffs, public and aboriginal consultation, and land rights acquisition and compensation, in the context of both provincially and federally regulated projects. Lars regularly appears before energy and utilities boards and commissions in Alberta and B.C. (including the Canada Energy Regulator) as well as all levels of the Alberta and Federal Courts.

Ben Rogers

Ben Rogers

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Ben is Office Managing Partner of Blakes Calgary office and Co-Practice Group Leader of the Energy - Oil & Gas group, and acts for energy companies on all types of commercial matters across Canada and internationally. He has considerable experience in a diverse range of energy-related matters, including acquisitions and divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, the structuring of joint venture agreements, midstream matters, project development, and the management of the legal aspects of day-to-day oil and gas and commercial matters. Ben also has considerable experience in both conventional and non-conventional oil and gas development, as well as in the East Coast offshore.

Next Generation Partners

Christine Milliken

Christine Milliken

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Christine's practice focuses primarily on mergers, acquisitions and divestitures and project development within the oil and gas and renewable energy industries. She has been involved in a broad range of transactions for private and public entities, including domestic and cross border M&A transactions, share and asset purchase and sale transactions, joint ventures, pipeline and midstream facility development and commercial arrangements and corporate reorganizations. Christine has significant experience advising clients with general corporate and commercial matters and all aspects of conventional and unconventional oil and gas matters, including liquefied natural gas (including all project development agreements and LNG offtake arrangements). She also advises on pipeline and other midstream project matters, share and asset purchase and sale transactions and reorganizations. Christine also has an active technology practice, assisting start-up technology companies (in various stages) with various commercial transactions (including mergers, acquisition and divestitures), private equity and venture capital investments, licensing and general commercial matters. She has a strong working knowledge of French, Cantonese and Mandarin. Christine is co-head of the Firm's Corporate Commercial group in Calgary.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Keith Byblow, Christine Milliken

Other key lawyers

Ben Rogers, Chris Harris, Mungo Hardwicke-Brown, Terri-Lee Oleniuk, Lars Olthafer, Katie Slipp, Ky Kvisle, Ashton Menuz