At Watson Farley & Williams LLP, practice head Julian Nichol has a stellar track record in development and limited-recourse financing for independent power projects, including those involving natural gas, coal, hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, waste-to-energy and biomass technologies. The 2023 hires of finance specialist Paul Simpson from CMS, and corporate partner Tony Edwards from Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, significantly boost its capability in energy and natural resources projects in the Middle East and Africa.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Key clients

  • BW Energy Holdings Pte. Ltd
  • San Cristobal Mining Inc.
  • Mauritius Commercial Bank
  • DNB Bank ASA
  • CCC Oil and Gas Ltd and Massader (The Sovereign Wealth Fund of Palestine)
  • Coastline Exploration (“Coastline”)
  • Palestine Power Generation Company
  • HSBC Bank plc
  • QED Consulting
  • The Republic of Guinea
  • Star Energy
  • Government of Namibia
  • African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)

Work highlights

  • Advising the Republic of Guinea on the development, financing and corporate aspects of the US$15bn Simandou project, the world’s largest mining and related rail and port infrastructure project.
  • Advising BW Energy on an up to US$300m new international reserve-based lending facility. The facility will be used initially to further finance and develop the Dussafu license off the coast of Gabon.
  • Advising CCC Oil & Gas and Massader (the Palestinian Sovereign Wealth Fund) on the development and financing of the integrated Gaza Marine gas project involving the development and financing of a gas field offshore Gaza, Palestine, and the development and financing of a gas processing plant at El Arish in Egypt.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Julian Nichol

Other key lawyers

Paul Simpson, Tony Edwards