Peter Hays

About Peter Hays

Oil and gas transactional attorney - domestic and international. Acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, unitizations, projects, financing, start-up.Focus on: major discoveries; new basins; country entry; major development (LNG liquefaction and regasification, refining, processing, pipelines); major transactions (multi-billion, percentage of capitalization, or otherwise critical); research and development projects and new technologies; monetization of critical assets; unique, bespoke, ad hoc and/or urgent transactions.Negotiates, drafts: purchase and sale agreements (PSA, SPA); credit agreements, mortgages, deeds of trust and other financing agreements; joint operating agreements (JOA), joint development agreements (JDA); entity operating agreements and other joint venture documents; farmouts (domestic, international, promote, carry, back-in); AMI and joint bid agreements; unitization and unit operating agreements (domestic [state, federal, private] and international)(UUOA); gas gathering, processing and sale agreements (GGA, GPA, NAESB).Advises on: structuring of joint ventures prior to start or restructuring of existing joint ventures; advising start-up companies from concept through first year (financing and venture arrangements, management incentive, monetization/exit strategies, land and contracting protocols, etc.); commercialization of discoveries (sanctioning, host government arrangements, appraisal and development plans, processing, lifting and transportation, sales, and other production handling arrangements); country entry, domestic (pre-investment strategy and structuring for cross border transactions into the US; dealing with BLM, BOEM, states and, with colleagues, HSR, CFIUS and FERC); country entry, international (entry into new market, with emphasis on analysis of local laws on hydrocarbons, foreign investment, exchange control, constitutional issues and local stakeholder issues); title review for major acquisitions or critical sites.

Experience

1. Partner

   Paul Hastings

   Jul 2025 — Present · Houston, TX, US

Education

• The University of Texas School of Law

  Juris Doctor, Oil and Gas Concentration

  2005

• The University of Texas at Austin

  Bachelor's Degree, English Language and Literature

  1999

Skills

• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Securities Regulation
• Business Litigation
• Oil & Gas Industry
• Lng
• Energy Industry
• Cross-Border Transactions
• Corporate Law
• Legal Research
• Commercial Litigation
• Corporate Governance
• Leadership
• Trade Secrets
• Oil & Gas Exploration
• Joint Ventures
• Legal Writing
• Litigation
• Start-Ups
• Energy Law
• International Law
• Legal Advice
• International Joint Ventures
• Due Diligence
• Negotiation