Oil and Gas
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For over half a century, NERA experts have helped clients successfully navigate their most critical regulatory, litigation, and business challenges across the oil and gas sector.
Our deep experience with the economics of global crude oil and refined products spans upstream, midstream, and downstream markets, including developments from the abundance of shale oil and natural gas liquids in the US, increased complexity of crude qualities, global trade, and other economic developments.
NERA’s work in deregulating natural gas markets in North America during the 1990s continues to serve as the foundation for the regulatory regime used and modeled around the world today.
As a result of technological innovation, our work focuses on the challenges oil and gas markets face with changing economics, infrastructure needs, investment decisions, geopolitical strife and energy transition, energy security, and policy efforts surrounding carbon abatement technology and net zero goals.
We have served clients around the globe, including in North America, many countries in Central and South America, nearly all the countries of the EU, Russia, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, and many parts of Asia.
Litigation Support
NERA’s energy experts have extensive experience providing support to clients involved in litigation and regulatory disputes, from the inception of the case to its final resolution. We assist clients in building their cases, developing strategies, and assembling testimony. We calculate damages from contract breach, breach of law, and breach of regulatory obligations.
Regulatory Proceedings
Our experts provide economic support to natural gas companies and regulators to evaluate new pathways to net zero goals for gas and hydrogen and other technology. In addition, we offer competition analysis of pipeline markets for market-based rate authority, claims of discrimination, and cost of service regulation including rate and tariff design, cost of capital, and required revenue.
Arbitration and Commercial Litigation
Our consultants provide expert testimony for international arbitration proceedings such as investor-state disputes, commercial litigation including those stemming from bankruptcy events or construction delays, and collective proceedings.
Policy Evaluation
Our experts develop and evaluate policy interventions such as market restructuring and liberalization, privatization and the introduction of competition, and environmental regulations. We also design regulatory support schemes for preferred technologies like renewable gas and hydrogen.
Transactional Work
NERA’s energy experts provide regulatory and commercial due diligence services to oil and gas investors and market due diligence and price forecasting, which increasingly involves new technologies like renewable gas, carbon capture, and hydrogen.
Regulation
Our experts routinely testify in courtrooms and before regulators on issues such as cost of capital, rate design, cost of service, regulatory models, prudence, affiliate standards, efficiency and cost targets, regulatory incentives, price manipulation, industry structure, economic damages, and liability.
Market Assessment
NERA’s energy experts advise market participants and regulators on supply and demand modeling and the impacts on market price and quantity demand of various potential developments, new technology entrants, and other matters.
Bankruptcy Proceedings
NERA’s energy experts have experience testifying in bankruptcy proceedings, responding to the stresses oil and gas producers and pipelines face, including out-of-the-market contracts due to shifts in demand and prices.
Antitrust
Our experts support clients’ applications for merger and State Aid clearance for upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas sectors and advise on market power mitigation in oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas product markets. In addition, we have longstanding experience providing expert evidence to competition litigation proceedings, including appeals against enforcement decisions, follow-on damages claims, and collective actions.
Business and Utility Advisory
Our experts are tapped into new and growing topics in the oil and gas sector that expand our existing advisory work. We have provided clients counsel on issues ranging from due diligence on setting rates for oil and gas products and transportation markets to forecasts of changing market conditions during the energy transition.