Shipping & Offshore Energy (Oil & Gas and Renewables)
SANDS’ internationally renowned Shipping & Offshore Energy (Oil & Gas and Renewables) Department offers commercial legal advice in highly international industries. Our core team of Norwegian, English and German lawyers has extensive international experience, as well as industrial experience from management positions in oil service, shipping and insurance companies, which gives our advice unique quality and depth. They are supported by a team of experienced Norwegian partners in adjacent practice areas such as transactions, banking/finance, compliance/risk management and employment law. We offer modern, seasoned and cost-effective project advice and dispute resolution support regardless of jurisdiction and geography.
One of the top Scandinavian law firms with an unparalleled knowledge of the oil and gas and energy and shipping sectors in particular, and a stellar client list.
- Client (The Legal 500, 2023)
Supplier's Corner
A series of practical advice for better contracting in the supply industry.
Our core team
Our core team is built on a strategy of bringing together lawyers with long industrial experience and backgrounds as advisers and litigators for major players in energy, shipping, marine insurance, shipbuilding & offshore energy. Our lawyers are commercially oriented and have a significant amount of international experience. When it comes to offshore energy, their expertise spans the entire value and contracts chain and they regularly advise on projects from start to finish; this includes procurement, construction, insurance, long term project contracts and ongoing project advisory work. As to shipping, our team deals with all aspects of the maritime spectrum – whether that is the construction of newbuild vessels, the sale and purchase of second hand tonnage, charterparty assistance (contentious and non-contentious) or marine insurance.
How we work
SANDS combines legal expertise, first-class project management and right-on-point advice at competitive rates and pricing. We’re in the same boat as our clients and ensure we always structure our fees in a way that will reflect the value we deliver whilst supporting our clients’ management of their legal spend and commercial objectives. We accompany our clients out into the world and our combination of Norwegian, English and German qualified lawyers provide support to clients across the globe. We also collaborate closely with leading law firms in other parts of the world, including in countries subject to international sanctions.
The areas in which we provide assistance include:
- Project development phase
- Letters of Intent/Heads of Terms/MOUs
- Cooperation Agreements/Joint Development Agreements
- Tender processes – pre-qualification, qualifications & clarifications, bidding strategy, negotiations, Shareholders' Agreements
- The life cycle of a charterparty
- Shipbuilding from newbuild construction through to recycling
Charterparties and Bills of Lading
- Complex charterparty disputes including, for example, off-hire, demurrage, redelivery and termination disputes (acting directly for Owners and Charterers and also receiving instructions via FD&D teams at IG P&I Clubs)
- Cargo claims
- Experience with all manner of vessels including bulkers, tankers, cruise vessels, offshore support vessels, superyachts etc, across all types of charterparties (bareboat, time, voyage)
- Non-contentious charterparty assistance - red flag review (due diligence/investment assistance) and drafting and negotiation
Superyachts
- Non-contentious superyacht newbuild construction contracts - drafting, negotiation, red flag review
- Superyacht newbuild construction disputes (such as delay disputes, termination disputes etc)
- Warranty claims
- Charterparties (including, for example, the MYBA form) – negotiation, drafting, advisory work and disputes
Project Contracts
- Long term charterparties for offshore assets
- Drilling Contracts
- Operation and Service Agreements
- Offshore Construction and Installation Contracts
- Subsea Installation Contracts
- FIDIC Contracts
- Contracts of Affreightment
- Sale & Purchase
- Management Agreements
Construction
- EPC (IC)
- Shipbuilding Contracts for all manner of vessels, from large scale commercial vessels to luxury superyachts
- Subcontracts, Supply Agreements
- Supervision Agreements
- Delivery documents and procedure
Transaction Services and Tax
- Auction Processes
- Due Diligence
- Sale and Purchase Agreements
- Co-investment Programs
- Tax Structuring
- Corporate Re-structuring
Financing
- Quiet enjoyment issues
- Direct Agreements
- Contractor Warranty
- Guarantees/LCs
Insurance
- Risk assessment (P&I, H&M, FDD, D&O, War/Terror/Piracy, CAR, LOPI coverage, etc.)
- Assessment/advice/litigation assistance related to insurance coverage and insurance settlement
- Direct action claims against insurance companies
Dispute resolution and Compliance
- Regulatory assistance
- Procedural assistance in the ordinary courts and arbitration
- Development of compliance programs and investigation processes
- English law dispute resolution – arbitration (such as LMAA, LCIA, ICC etc), English High Court litigation and mediation
