Michael P. Darden is Partner-in-Charge of the Houston office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, chair of the firm’s Oil & Gas practice group, and a member of the firm’s Energy and Infrastructure and Mergers and Acquisitions practice groups.  His practice focuses on:

• International and U.S. oil and gas ventures (including LNG, deep-water and unconventional resource development projects)
• International and U.S. infrastructure projects
• Asset acquisitions and divestitures
• Energy-based financings (including project financings, reserve-based loans and production payments)

Before joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Darden served as the global chair of the oil and gas transactions practice and co-chair of the global oil and gas industry team at Latham & Watkins as well as the firmwide chair of the global oil and gas practice at Baker Botts.  Prior to Baker Botts, Mr. Darden was Vice President, Business Development, for Nuevo Energy Company, with responsibility for U.S. and international business development, international new ventures, international legal and negotiations matters, international mergers and acquisitions, as well as real estate portfolio management and land matters in the United States.  He has also worked in the international legal and/or negotiations areas for Tenneco Oil Company, BHP Petroleum and Hunt Oil Company.

Mr. Darden has been recognized in the following publications:

• Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in Energy: Oil & Gas (Transactional), 2005-2018
• The Legal 500 as one of the Tier 1 leading lawyers in the U.S. in the practice of Energy: Transactions – Oil & Gas, 2015-2017
• The Best Lawyers in America©, 2007–2019
• Who’s Who Legal Oil & Gas, 2010–2017
• Chambers Global, 2011-2017
• Law & Politics as a “Texas Super Lawyer,” 2003–2004, 2006–2017
• Who’s Who Legal Project Finance, 2012–2014, 2017
• The Houston Business Journal Who’s Who in Energy, 2012, 2014
• Legal 500, 2012–2014

Mr. Darden is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, in which he has served as an officer, director and committee chairman and was co-chair of the committee that developed the model form international farmout agreement.  Mr. Darden is Board Certified in Oil and Gas Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and a member of the Houston Bar Association.

Representative Matters*

Domestic U.S.

• Representation of seller in divestiture of 63,000 net acres of productive and exploratory leasehold in the Wolfcamp Shale of the Permian Basin, along with seller’s interest in certain mid-stream gathering assets, for US$2.5 billion
• Representation of purchaser of 12,000 net acres of productive Spraberry and Wolfcamp leasehold in the Permian Basin for $600 million
• Representation of seller in divestiture of Spraberry and Wolfcamp leasehold in the Permian Basin for $980 million
• Representation of purchaser of 36,860 net acres of Wolfcamp leasehold in the Permian Basin for $855 million
• Representation of buyer in its US$2 billion investment in exchange for 30% of seller’s interest in approximately 650,000 net acres in the Cline shale and the Midland-Wolfcamp Shale of the Permian Basin
• Representation of seller in divestiture of Eagle Ford Shale-focused midstream company for $2.15 billion
• Representation of seller in divestiture of 120,000 net acres of productive and exploratory leasehold in the Eagle Ford Shale formation in South Texas, along with the seller’s interest in certain mid-stream gathering assets, for US$1.45 billion
• Representation of largest seller in multi-company divestiture of approximately 32,000 gross acres in the Bakken Shale formation of North Dakota for US$1.4 billion
• Conveyance of US$5 billion of onshore exploration and production assets in relation to spin-off of exploration and production company from regulated utility
• Representation of producer (gas owner) in terminaling agreement for counterparty to store and transport producer’s natural gas stream to producer’s terminal and to process the natural gas stream to produce and deliver ethane to producer’s ships at the terminal for overseas delivery
• Representation of buyer in acquisition of interests in producing deepwater Gulf of Mexico leases, along with associated capacity rights in offshore infrastructure and interests in related contracts, for $2.15 billion
• Representation of buyer in acquisition of interests in 28 deep-water Gulf of Mexico leases and structuring, negotiating and implementing (i) Participation Agreement calling for a minimum expenditure of US$600 million and (ii) Management Services Agreement
• Representation of buyer in acquisition of several producing deepwater Gulf of Mexico fields (23 leases encompassing five field areas), along with associated capacity rights in offshore infrastructure and interests in related contracts, for US$5.55 billion

International

• Extensive work on petroleum exploration, development and/or production projects outside the United States in all regions of the world, including several LNG projects. Involvement at all stages of petroleum projects, working with governments, industry partners, contractors, suppliers, lenders and insurers
• Drafting and negotiation of production-sharing contracts, licenses, technical evaluation agreements, confidentiality agreements, joint bidding agreements, farmout agreements, purchase and sale agreements, joint operating agreements, drilling contracts and service contracts for exploration and production activities in more than 60 countries
• Countries, by region, include:  Canada; Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Venezuela; Albania, France, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Russia, Turkey and the United Kingdom; Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen; Angola, Benin, Congo, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sudan and Zambia; Australia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Tonga and Vietnam

Education

Mr. Darden earned his Juris Doctor in 1986 from the University of Houston Law Center.  He received an MBA from Rice University in 2002 and graduated in 1980 from the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Petroleum Land Management.

* Includes matters handled prior to joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher