Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr business law firm has announced the appointment of a new oil and gas legal team, comprising director Megan Rodgers, associates Craig Wilton and Giovanni Cloete, and personal assistant Theresa Barreto. Rodgers will lead the firm's Oil & Gas sector offering, in Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr's Cape Town office, and the team forms an integral part of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr’s Projects and Infrastructure practice lead by, Jay Govender.

“The new team has unique expertise in the upstream oil and gas industry acting for both national oil companies as well as independent oil companies doing business throughout Africa. The team’s experience in South Africa and also on the rest of the continent is invaluable as opportunities in this sector continue to grow across all jurisdictions on the continent,” says Govender.

Rodgers holds a LLB degree and LLM degree (cum laude) from the University of the Western Cape and is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators and Women in Oil and Energy South Africa. She has considerable experience in the upstream oil and gas industry and has assisted IOC's across multiple jurisdictions, such as South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Tanzania, Falkland Islands, Western Australia, Dubai, Iraq and more recently Namibia, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Zambia.

Rodgers' has worked closely with IOC's, NOC’s and host governments and has managed multi-disciplinary oil and gas teams. She specialises in drafting, and negotiating industry related agreements, such as Farm-out Agreements, Participating Agreements, Joint Operating Agreements, Seismic Acquisition Agreements, Multi-Client Brokerage Agreements, Technical Services and Drilling Services Agreements, PSA's and all other forms of host government agreements. She has also advised multi-national IOC's on host government legislative requirements, licencing and bid round requirements, work programme and budget obligations as well as MODU services agreements, and has prepared submissions for host governments on legislative amendments affecting the oil and gas industry in South Africa and Namibia.

Rodgers has published extensive reviews on the oil and gas industry both in South Africa and internationally and she is part of the team awarded the 2010 Oil and Gas Deal of the Year Award and the leader of the team awarded the 2014 Legal Advisor of Year Award by African Investor.

Craig Wilton holds a BA LLB from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and has been practising as an attorney since 1997. Wilton has assisted clients with applications for petroleum permits and rights as well as the renewal and transfer thereof in terms of South African law. He has also assisted in advising clients on the regulatory aspects of coal-bed methane projects in South Africa, and preparing a response to the Department of Mineral Resources proposed amendments to the Minerals and Petroleum Resource Development Act. He has also prepared legal advice on international host government contracts. Wilton has drafted, reviewed and assisted in the negotiation of Joint Operating Agreements, as well as having reviewed Data Storage Agreements and Multi-Client Agreements.

Giovanni Cloete holds a LLB from the University of the Western Cape. He has assisted clients with applications for petroleum permits and rights as well as the renewal and transfer thereof in terms of South African law. He has also advised on the regulatory aspects of coal-bed methane projects in South Africa and prepared submissions to the South African government on the proposed amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. He has also assisted clients with due diligence investigations specific to the petroleum resources industry. He has extensive experience in the review of host government contracts and has advised on Participation Agreements, Joint Operating Agreements and Non-Disclosure Data Agreements. He is also part of the team awarded the 2014 Legal Advisor of Year Award by African Investor.