Counsel - Mauritania & Senegal

BP p.l.c.; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000

Job description

Travel Requirement:

Negligible travel should be expected with this role

Job summary

Job Family Group: Legal Group

Job Description:

Our purpose is to deliver energy to the world, today and tomorrow. For over 100 years, bp has focused on discovering, developing, and producing oil and gas in the nations where we operate. We are one of the few companies globally that can provide governments and customers with an integrated energy offering. Delivering our strategy sustainably is fundamental to achieving our ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner.

In Mauritania & Senegal, bp is developing GTA Phase 1 which is the first phase of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project which will produce gas from an ultra-deepwater subsea system and mid-water floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The gas will be transferred to a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility at an innovative nearshore hub located on the Mauritania and Senegal maritime border. The FLNG facility is designed to provide circa 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum of nameplate capacity, with the total gas resources in the field estimated to be around 15 trillion cubic feet. This is one of the most complex offshore projects that bp has ever done and a very material business for bp. This asset presents us an opportunity to have a significant impact in a developing part of the world in partnership with the host nations who have both granted the GTA Phase 1 project the status of National Project of Strategic Importance.

The GTA field straddles the Mauritania-Senegal maritime boundary, contains an estimated 15tcf of discovered resources, and is being progressed by bp as a joint cross-border development. This is a landmark project that will produce significant volumes of LNG and condensate for international sale and also provides an allocation of gas for domestic use.

Reporting to the Managing Counsel, you will be an integral member of the M&S Legal team and wider M&S business team – supporting all aspects of activity in the region. You will provide strategic legal and commercial guidance to the M&S business on a range of issues in this varied and ambitious region. As the GTA project moves into the Operate phase there will continue to be various exciting regional, joint venture, financing and business development opportunities and issues to grapple with in respect of the development of the region, giving the lawyer recruited into this role a great chance to learn and grow; enhance their network and make a significant impact on this important region. This requires working jointly with the business, and other parts of the legal function and external counsel, on complex, high value, long term commercial arrangements and work as part of multi-disciplinary teams to support the business.

The Counsel M&S will support the existing three-lawyer team comprising Managing Counsel, Senior Counsel and Counsel across a wide range of activity in this varied and exciting region. This is a superb opportunity to be part of building a BP’s first FLNG asset in a developing part of the world, providing legal advice to a business of material scale, complexity and strategic significance.

This role will primarily be based in Sunbury, supporting the Mauritania and Senegal business, currently within P&O.

Key Accountabilities:

• Be an integral member of the bp legal team supporting this ground-breaking region, with opportunities to coordinate with multiple parts of the bp organisation on key strategic issues including Finance, Business Development, Projects, Operations and Procurement, Subsurface & Reservoir Development; and Ethics & Compliance.
• Provide legal advice and the opportunity to bring a problem solving approach to help resolve a range of issues to the bp business teams located in Sunbury, Mauritania and Senegal, to include:
  • upstream business development / project development work including development / negotiation of required contractual frameworks with JV partners, host governments and other customers;
  • Hydrocarbon sales arrangements (potentially including LNG, gas, and condensate);
  • Pipeline / other infrastructure development including corporate structuring and establishment of tolling / alternative structures;
  • Project financing / alternative funding options;
  • Various asset management matters under PSCs / JOAs (e.g. interpretation of production-sharing mechanisms; relinquishment / retention of PSC acreage; etc);
  • Working with Procurement & Supply Chain on the procurement of goods and services; and
  • Assessing applicable compliance risks associated with the asset.
• Develop and maintain business relationships within the BP organisation and with external customers, including BP’s partners and host governments.
• Working with relevant specialists within bp legal and other bp functions to ensure appropriate mitigation of risk and management of legal issues impacting the M&S business.
• Strategic instruction, use and management of external counsel and external costs.
• Advising on compliance matters, working with relevant bp legal specialists, including on: Anti Bribery and Corruption, Anti-Trust, International Trade Regulations, Sanctions, Data Privacy and IP
• Identifying and providing client training on commercial legal areas deemed necessary and appropriate.

Role Requirements:

• Qualified to practice English law, French law or equivalent.
• Proven track record of commercial awareness and high quality contribution to business delivery.
• The highest professional and ethical standards and a strong commitment to excellence. Show integrity, courage and sound ethical judgment.
• Exposure to complex legal work and solid understanding of contracting and commercial fundamentals.
• Experience of the Upstream oil and gas industry.
• Excellent social skills - capable of adopting a variety of styles to interact with and influence colleagues across the business and senior management and build strong relationships (i.e. ‘trusted adviser’ type relationships) with colleagues based both in the UK and overseas
• Ability to manage a wide and varied workload, effectively prioritise with materiality focus, and react to changing business priorities.
• Well developed emotional intelligence, with sensitivity to cultural and people differences, receptive to and energised by a diverse organization.
• Drive, commitment, and a preparedness to collaborate and innovate both autonomously as well as part of a team.
• Able to deal with unstructured/undefined issues or problems and deal with ambiguous and commercially uncertain situations
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the creativity to propose different options and build consensus with a bias for action.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of working in-house.
• Fluent French or Arabic language skills and/or civil law qualified.
• Experience of working in developing markets.
• Experience of dealing with national governments, national oil companies and/or regulators.
• Experience of understanding and advising on non-technical risks including security, human rights, NGOs, environment and social investment.

Why join our team?

At bp, we provide an excellent working environment and employee benefits such as an open and inclusive culture, a great work-life balance, tremendous learning and development opportunities to craft your career path, life and health insurance, medical care package and many others.

We support our people to learn and grow in a diverse and exciting environment. We believe that our team is strengthened by diversity. We are committed to crafting an inclusive environment in which everyone is respected and treated fairly.

As an equal opportunity employer, we celebrate diversity and care about people. We would hope you will be like minded with a positive personality, energetic working style and for this role exceptional communicator who can work well within a multidisciplinary team.