Member Profile

Barrisford Petersen is the Managing Director of BBP Law and holds a BA and LLB degree from the University of the Western Cape and has studied extensively in the United Kingdom and USA.

Barrisford established the first Cape Town based legal practice specializing in the energy sector and is an international oil and gas law specialist with more than 18 years’ experience in the industry and he is the founder of BBP Law.

Barrisford previously worked as manager of legal services for the South African national oil company now known as the PetroSA. He then entered the private sector and practiced as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa and managed his own private legal practice which focused exclusively on African oil and gas activities. In 2009 he joined a leading corporate and commercial law firm in South Africa where he was appointed as the head of the oil and gas division.

Barrisford has extensive experience in the international oil and gas industry, having worked closely with a number of local and international oil and gas companies doing business in many African countries including: Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Botswana, Tanzania, Gabon, Congo, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, Angola, Namibia, Mauritania and Chad. He has advised clients on bidding rounds, host government contracts and has been involved in drafting and negotiating of oil and gas related agreements for some of the most complex oil and gas projects.

Barrisford recently presented a Master Class course on Africa’s Oil and Gas Contract to industry specialists in South Africa and Ghana.

He is also part of the team awarded the 2014 Legal Advisor of the Year Award by African Investor.

Barrisford brings to BBP Law not only his accumulated experience but also a network of relationships essential for doing business in Africa.

BBP Law was established to offer effective and pro-active legal services to its clients. Our expertise and location at Africa´s gateway has allowed us a significant platform to provide legal services and advice to our clients doing business in Africa.

Our extensive local and international experience and the exceptional legal skills of our attorneys combined with our commitment to service excellence attracts people and businesses to BBP Law. Our highly skilled attorneys have diverse experience ranging from the drafting of complex commercial agreements to the development and implementation of risk management strategies.

Our award winning team has provided legal assistance to major independent oil companies and national oil companies in Africa. We have assisted clients with early stage exploration projects as well as complex production and FPSO development projects. Our attorneys have collectively advised on the first offshore development project in South Africa, the first offshore development project in Namibia and the first onshore production project in South Africa.

At BBP Law, our attorneys have a diverse portfolio of skills in corporate, commercial and regulatory matters and we have considerable experience in the drafting and negotiation of commercial agreements. We are also frequently called upon to provide legal advice, due diligence assistance, bid round advice and regulatory assistance to our local and international clients.

Services in the Oil and Gas Industry

The backbone of BBP Law will always be its specialised skills within the oil and gas industry.

At BBP Law we recognize that the oil and gas industry is an exciting, high risk and challenging industry. Based on our experience and understanding of the industry we aim to assist our clients in identifying and migrating risk and guiding them through any challenges which may arise.

We have considerable experience in the drafting of industry related agreements and providing legal advise in respect of industry related transactions to independent oil companies and national oil companies.

Transactions we have assisted on include, but are not limited to:

- Participating Agreements

- Farm-Out Agreements

- Technical Co-operation Permit applications

- Petroleum License applications

- Exploration Right applications

- Production Right applications

- Petroleum permissions and concessions

- Shale Gas Projects

- Coal-bed methane Projects

- Joint bidding and Areas of Mutual Interest Agreements

- Business Establishment and Business Structuring

- Due Diligence Investigations and Reports

- Petroleum Development Projects

- Upstream Installation and Commissioning

- Oil and Gas Policies and Procedures

- Confidentiality Agreements within the Oil and Gas Industry

- Petroleum Contracts Management

- Gas Sales Agreements

- Government Procurement Procedures

- Government Procurement and Commercial

- Tendering Processes

- Negotiating Host Government Contracts

- Joint Venture and Joint Operating Agreements

- Multi-Client and Brokerage Agreements

- Onshore and Offshore Drilling and Drilling - Support Service Contracts

- Drilling Support Services Contracts

- Engineering, Procurement, Installation and Commissioning of Oil and Gas facilities and Pipelines

- Petroleum Risk Management through Contracts and Insurance

- Seismic Acquisition Agreements

- Seismic Processing and Re-Processing Agreements

- Upstream data viewing Agreements

- Petroleum Statutory and Regulatory Compliance

- Acquisitions and disposal of oil and gas rights

Our Legal Services Range

Through the acquisition of further specialised legal skills, BBP Law has grown its reputation over a broader range of legal services to support both our established and new clients. Through BBP Law's growth strategy our experienced attorneys now also offer client legal services in the following specialised categories:

- Corporate and Commercial Transactions

- Downstream Oil and Gas legal work in the

- Service Stations and Petroleum Products

- Retail Industry

- Corporate and Commercial Litigation

- Specialised Property and Conveyancing Transactions

- Specialised Notorial and related matters

- Commercial, Civil and Criminal Litigation in High Court

- Business Establishment and Business Structuring

- Complex Shareholder's Agreements

- Empowerment Defining Initiatives

- Partnership and Trusts

- Competition Law

- Labour Law and related matters

Africa investor (Ai) Legal Advisor of the Year Award 2014

To view our certificate follow this link

http://bbplaw.co.za/documents.php?p=131"