Energy Restructuring

We are equally at home accomplishing a client's goals through negotiation, litigation or a transactional approach. Our lawyers are highly experienced in both the litigation and transactional aspects of energy-related bankruptcy matters.

Restructuring

Our team has an in-depth understanding of the energy restructuring sector, having represented energy companies and their creditors in both out-of-court and in-court restructurings. Clients rely on Holland & Knight and our energy restructuring attorneys because of our dedication to outstanding client service, substantive background and thorough knowledge of the legal issues that impact the energy restructuring sector.

Our team is comfortable developing, advising and executing out-of-court restructuring options, including strategic acquisition and divesture of assets, recapitalizations and debt exchanges. We work with debtors, lenders, debt and equity investors and holders as well as other constituents to explore and implement the available options. We also help evaluate and structure transactions to avoid the pitfalls of subsequent insolvencies.

Chapter 11 is sometimes unavoidable and sometimes the best strategic option for debtors and for creditors. Our team has represented all of the major parties throughout in-court reorganizations of energy companies, including lenders, debtors, creditors' committees, debt holders and asset acquirers. We not only act as advisors on main case proceedings such as DIP financing, adequate protection valuations, asset disposition and plans of reorganization, we are also experienced in all aspects of bankruptcy practice, including avoidance actions, cram down litigation, proceedings related to the assumption or rejection of unexpired leases and executory contracts, and bankruptcy appeals. Our team is well-positioned to address client needs in this sector.

Litigation

Holland & Knight's Energy Restructuring Team is comprised of experienced litigation attorneys with the knowledge and in-depth background to handle every type of bankruptcy-related litigation contingency or controversy that could result in litigation. We can draw on broad subject matter knowledge throughout the firm as necessary to support our clients' positions and have the technological resources to guide clients through the e-discovery process, saving both time and money. With offices across the U.S. and internationally, we are able to mobilize wherever and whenever you need us.

Selected Representative Engagements by Industry

Our Energy Restructuring Team's broad experiences include the following matters:

Oil, Gas, Coal and Other Extractive Energy Sources

• Served as counsel to the debtors in the Delaware Chapter 11 proceedings of Cubic Energy Inc. and its oil and gas subsidiaries following negotiation of a prepackaged plan of reorganization 
• Served as counsel to the lender in the Chapter 11 case of Dune Energy Inc., an oil and gas exploration and production company operating along the Louisiana and Texas gulf coast, in the Western District of Texas 
• Represented the lender in the Chapter 11 proceeding of Panaco Inc., an offshore oil and gas company, in the Southern District of Texas, including litigation of plan terms and valuation of collateral 
• Served as counsel to the secured lenders in the Chapter 11 proceeding of Trinity Coal Corporation in the Eastern District of Kentucky 
• Represented the agent and 20-member bank group in the Chapter 11 proceeding of Placid Oil Company, one of the nation's largest proceedings of an oil and gas company, and related lender liability litigation in the Northern District of Texas 
• Served as counsel to the largest unsecured creditor and critical vendor in the Delaware Chapter 11 of Boomerang Tube, a leading manufacturer of oil country tubular goods used by drillers in the energy and power industry 
• Served as counsel to the lender in the Chapter 11 proceeding of Virgin Oil Company, an offshore oil and gas company, in the Eastern District of Louisiana 
• Served as counsel to a major oil and gas service company in recovering credits from Sismopetrol S.A., which entered into intervention by the Superintendency of Corporations in Colombia as part of forced liquidation proceedings
• Served as special maritime counsel to first priority secured creditors in the exit financing from the Delaware Chapter 11 proceeding of Overseas Group Investment Limited (previously part of the Vantage Drilling group), jointly administered with other affiliated debtors under the Delaware Chapter 11 proceeding
• Represented the debtors in the Chapter 11 bankruptcies of an oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company and its subsidiaries in the Western District of Texas
• Served as counsel to agent for the bank group in the Forcenergy Inc. Chapter 11 proceeding in the Eastern District of Louisiana
• Represented an equipment lessor in Chapter 11 of Frac Specialists LLC, a fracking company, in the Northern District of Texas
• Served as counsel to an equipment lender in Chapter 11 of Patman Drilling, a drilling rig company, in the Northern District of Texas
• Served as counsel to an oil and gas company in its out-of-court financial restructuring
• Provided reorganization and bankruptcy analysis for creditors in the reorganization proceedings of Servicios Técnicos S.A.S. before the Superintendency of Corporations in Colombia

Clean Energy

• Represented a multinational geothermal energy producer in preparation for a multijurisdictional insolvency proceeding, which was obviated by a successful recapitalization transaction 
• Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Delaware Chapter 11 of Satcon Technology Company, a designer and manufacturer of inverters

Energy Storage

• Served as counsel to agent for the bank group in the Delaware Chapter 11 proceeding of Ryckman Creek Resources LLC, a natural gas storage facility 
• Represented the agent for a bank group in the out-of-court restructuring of financing for a natural gas storage facility 
• Provided foreign creditor regulatory assistance in bankruptcy analysis for the reorganization of Alquileres y Servicios S.A. before the Superintendency of Corporations in Colombia

Energy Transportation

• Counsel to senior lenders in the out-of-court balance sheet and tax restructuring of Pacific Drilling Ltd., an owner of chartered offshore rigs
• Served as counsel to a secured lender group in NewLead Holdings' $147.5 million debt reduction and vessel sale of four product tankers
• Served as special maritime counsel to lenders in the Southern District of New York Chapter 11 of Navigator Gas Transport PLC
• Served as global maritime counsel and U.S. Jones Act counsel to an unsecured lender syndicate owed over $1 billion in the Delaware Chapter 11 proceeding of Overseas Shipholding Group
• Represented the purchaser of two oil tankers in the Southern District of Texas Chapter 11 of TMT Maritime

Other

• Served as counsel to a creditor and limited partner in the Chapter 11 proceeding of McCommas LFG Processing Partners LP, a landfill gas project, in the Northern District of Texas 
• Served as counsel to the borrower in an out-of-court restructuring of the debts of a renewable waste plant

Guidance You Can Trust

With our legal know-how and experience in the field, our team members have been recognized and ranked among the top legal professionals in the country using input from clients and attorneys in the industry – those who are best positioned to evaluate our capabilities – in the following publications:

• The Best Lawyers in America guide, Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law/Insolvency and Reorganization, 2001-2016; Banking and Finance Law, 2012-2016; Litigation-Bankruptcy, 2014-2016 
• Chambers USA – America's Leading Business Lawyers guide,Bankruptcy/Restructuring, 2005-2015 
• Who's Who publications, including Who's Who Legal 100, International Who's Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers, Who's Who in American Law, and Who's Who in America 
• Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated 
• Super Lawyers magazine, the most recent edition in their jurisdictions

Recognized Leaders, Committed to the Profession

Our members' restructuring skills have also been recognized by inclusion in some of the most selective and prestigious honorary societies in the world, and our team members have been elevated to leadership positions within those organizations. Over the years, current Holland & Knight team members have been included in: 

• International Insolvency Institute, there are only 350 members in the world in this invitation-only organization 
• American College of Bankruptcy, fellow 
• American College of Investment Counsel, fellow 
• International Bar Association, Insolvency Section, Regulated Industries Subcommittee Co-Chair 
• American Bankruptcy Institute, Northeast Conference Co-Chair 
• American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, fellow  
• American Bar Association, Subcommittee on Cross-Border Secured Transactions Chair 
• American College of Bankruptcy, Strategic Planning Committee 
• Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys