Rafael Valdivieso advises upstream and downstream Oil & Gas companies in several strategic matters to channel their investments through viable legal structures. Rafael is an expert in drafting and negotiation of oil and mining industry contracts, corporate structuring, project finance, operating agreements, local and cross-border M&A. He is also an expert in Administrative Law and has considerable experience in telecommunications regulatory matters.
He works with major clients in the oil & gas and mining industry in Ecuador. He advises International Oil Companies (IOCs), independent companies and service companies in the structuring and implementation of projects in Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela and Guatemala. Rafael advised several mining companies in their landing in Ecuador and development of exploratory projects.
Rafael has been recognized by leading law journals in the area of Energy and Natural Resources for several consecutive years. In 2016, he was winner of Latin Lawyer’s Deal of the Year (Regulatory). Additionally, Rafael is a member of the Association of International Energy Negotiator’s Latin America and Caribbean Chapter Regional Organizing Committee where he has led and organized several events in Ecuador with various governmental authorities.
Phillip Hanna is a dual Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration candidate at the University of Calgary in Canada. He is completing a legal internship through the Bill Winters MEGlobal Memorial Internship at the University of Calgary. His internship is with CITO Energy Law, Gran Tierra Energy, and Pacific Energy Canada, where he shares his time between the three offices in Calgary. During this internship, he gained exposure to drilling contracts, petroleum sharing contracts, supply agreements, consortium agreements, partnership and shareholder agreements, and site services agreements. He also had the opportunity to work on the interface between the petroleum industry and the CCS and helium sectors. Phillip looks forward to furthering his experience in this area through additional law school courses and involvement with AIEN.
Prior to pursuing his dual degree, Phillip completed an undergraduate degree in Oil and Gas Engineering. His professional work experience includes a summer term at a large Canadian law firm, a policy internship at the United Nations, and three years of engineering in the oil and gas service, exploration and production, and utility pipeline sectors.
Phillip actively participates in extracurricular activities including previous positions as president of an energy law student club, president of a 200-member student energy club, and as a volunteer caseworker for low-income clients. His involvement in the AIEN includes connecting the AIEN Canada Chapter to the University of Calgary law students and attending Canada Chapter events such as the AIPN-YN speed networking event and the east meets west virtual networking event. Phillip is excited to continue his involvement with the AIEN as he progresses through his career.
Koichi Shimomura served 4 years as Audit and Supervisory Board Member of JAPEX (Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd.) in 2018 – 2022, and he is currently Audit and Supervisory Board Member of Japex Offshore Ltd., a subsidiary of JAPEX, who is operating the largest and only one offshore oil field in Japan. He is based in Tokyo, Japan, where the head office is located. His responsibilities include audits related to the directors’ execution of duties, and he makes use of his extensive experience in project management for overseas projects.
Koichi has 40 years of experience in oil and gas upstream industry. Since joining JAPEX in 1982, he has worked on upstream projects of operated and non-operated joint ventures in USA and Canada (oil sands), Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, UK, North Africa, Middle East and Latin America. He played a series of commercial roles for contract negotiations with IOCs and NOCs, and asset management including acquisitions and divestments in business development department at JAPEX.
From 2012 to 2015, Koichi served as the leader of legal team for overseas operations, and worked for not only upstream contracts, but also other transaction agreements, such as LNG SPA or financing agreement. In addition, when JAPEX was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2003, he worked for media and investors relations.
Koichi is the Regional Director of the AIEN Japan Sub-Chapter and also participates to the Membership Committee of AIEN.
Koichi graduated from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo with Bachelor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences in 1982. He is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and qualified as Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).
Latifat is the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of the National Engineering and Technical Company Limited (NETCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC). She heads the Legal Department providing support to key projects in Nigeria’s oil and gas engineering sector.
The bulk of her 20-year career has been spent in NNPC, where prior to NETCO, she spent 15 years providing upstream and midstream oil & gas legal advisory services within the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), the upstream arm of NNPC overseeing the Federal Government of Nigeria’s investments in the oil industry’s Joint Ventures, Production Sharing Contracts and Service Contracts. During this period, she was regularly involved in the negotiation and management of contracts devolving from the Joint Ventures and the Production Sharing Contracts including gas sales, unitisations, and marginal fields. She provided direct legal support on some of Nigeria’s notable upstream projects including the Erha North Project, Bonga North West Extension Project and the Bonga South West Aparo Project. She has also provided support to Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources, working on ad-hoc tasks which included the Unitisation Guidelines for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry as well as the Petroleum Industry Act. She is a contributing author to two of Globe Law and Business, UK’s topical books on the global oil and gas industry. “Upstream Law and Regulation: A Global Guide, Second Edition” and “African Upstream Oil and Gas, A Practical Guide to the Law and Regulation”.
Prior to joining NNPC, Latifat worked as a barrister and solicitor with two top law firms and as in-house counsel in a leading bank in Nigeria. She is a Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) UK Accredited Mediator.
Latifat has been a member of AIEN since 2010 and at different times, served as a Mentor on the AIEN Young Negotiators (YN) Mentoring Program. She has served as the Alternate Regional Director for the Africa Chapter of AIEN since June 2020 and was this year, voted in as an AIEN Board Director. She has organised and moderated AIEN webinars and is currently working as part of the Awards Committee for the 2022 Awards at the upcoming AIEN International Energy Summit (IES) in London. She is also a member of the AIEN Membership Committee.
When she isn’t thinking anything “law”, she loves to spend time with her husband and children in her home in Lagos, Nigeria.
Heike Trischmann earned a BSc/MSc in Biology from the University of Leipzig, Germany, and a PhD in Biotechnology/Bioengineering from the Academy of Sciences, Berlin, Germany. She became a legal practitioner in England and Wales in 2001.
Heike is now a partner in the corporate group of Watson Farley & Williams, London. She works in the firm’s international Energy Group and specialises in all aspects of oil and gas law, with a strong focus on LNG, and the LNG to power sector in particular.
Heike has acted for governments, national oil companies as well as junior and major oil and gas companies, banks, energy trading companies, regulators and individual investors in more than 40 countries worldwide on a broad range of international and domestic corporate, commercial, regulatory and projects work in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors, including production sharing agreements, concessions and licence arrangements, M&A and farm-ins, joint operating agreements, gas and LNG supply/trading, transportation, storage and facility access agreements and the underlying regulatory regimes in the relevant jurisdictions as part of investments in the wider industry. Heike is recommended for her expertise by leading legal directories Legal 500 UK and Who’s Who Legal (Energy) [for her “an excellent energy and natural resources lawyer,” and “a very knowledgeable and through lawyer”, who stands out for her “high-quality advice”. She is commended for her “vast knowledge about the LNG industry”].
Heike became a member of the Association of International Energy Negotiators (AIEN) in 2005 (formerly AIPN) where she was recently appointed as chair of the regional sub-committee on course & training. Over the years, has served on a number of Model Contract Drafting Committees, including the Data Exchange Agreement, 2012 JOA, FOA and most prominently the Drilling Contract. Heike also presented together with Sam Dunkley at the 2012 AIPN NOC Conference in London on the terms of the Model GSA.
Is a Commercial Advisor with ExxonMobil. Ken started his career with Anadarko in the Land Department, eventually moving to commercial roles on various projects in the U.S., Africa, and Latin America. Ken then moved to ExxonMobil, joining their business development group. He has also taught International Petroleum Transactions as an Adjunct Professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. An active AIEN member since 2011, Ken has moderated association webinars (The Impact of Covid-19 on Operations Activities, and Decarbonization in the Energy Sector), has presented on various topics in international oil and gas at AIEN events, and is an active member of the U.S. Regional chapter. Ken is also a member of the AIEN CCUS Task Force. Ken holds a BS in Political Science/Economics from University of Houston and JD from South Texas College of Law Houston.
