Graham Valenta is an associate in the Houston office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he currently practices with the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions, Oil and Gas, Energy, and Private Equity practice groups and serves as a member of Gibson Dunn’s Associates Committee. Graham represents energy companies in a wide array of transactions, including complex acquisitions and divestitures of oil and gas assets and companies and innovative, large-scale carbon capture and sequestration projects.

His experience includes:*

• Representation of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) and certain of its affiliates in its $3 billion upstream joint venture focused on the Midland Basin and an upstream joint development arrangement focused on the Delaware Basin, in each case, with a U.S. subsidiary of Colombia’s Ecopetrol SA;
• Representation of Chief E&D Holdings, LP and Tug Hill, Inc. in the sale of Chief E&D Holdings, LP and certain associated interests to Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: CHK), valued at approximately $2.65 billion and named a Top 10 Texas M&A Deal of 2022 by The Texas Lawbook;
• Representation of Crestone Peak Resources in its consolidation with Civitas Resources, Inc., valued at approximately $4.5 billion;
• Representation of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE: PXD) in its acquisition of DoublePoint Energy, LLC, valued at approximately $6.4 billion;
• Representation of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE: PXD) in its all-stock acquisition of Parsley Energy Inc. (NYSE: PE), valued at approximately $7.6 billion;
• Representation of the South Carolina Department of Administration in its solicitation of a bid from NextEra Energy to acquire the South Carolina Public Service Authority, also known as Santee Cooper, valued at $9.46 billion;
• Representation of Reliance Eagleford Upstream Holding LP in its divestiture of oil and gas interests in the Eagle Ford Shale to Ensign Natural Resources, valued at approximately $402 million;
• Representation of Reliance Marcellus, LLC in its divestiture of oil and gas assets in the Marcellus Shale to Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NYSE: NOG) and EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT)
• Representation of Concho Resources, Inc. in its acquisition of RSP Permian, Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $9.5 billion;
• Representation of Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) in its $3.8 billion pipeline joint venture with the  Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board in the Marcellus and Utica Basins;
• Representation of Murphy Oil (NYSE: MUR) in its $2.13 billion sale of Murphy Sabah Oil Co. Ltd and Murphy Sarawak Oil Co. in an all-cash deal with PTT Exploration and Production that includes five Malaysian offshore oil exploration and production projects;
• Representation of Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE: SMLP) in its Double E Pipeline Project joint venture to provide natural gas transportation service from the Delaware Basin to the Waha Hub in Texas;
• Representation of EnerVest, Ltd., on behalf of certain institutional partnerships, in its business combination with TPG Pace Energy Holdings Corp., pursuant to which it will contribute certain producing and non-producing oil and gas assets in the Eagle Ford Shale and Austin Chalk to Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation in exchange for approximately $2.7 billion in cash and shares;
• Representation of SK E&P America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SK Innovation Co., Ltd., in its pending acquisition of Longfellow Nemaha, LLC, a private oil and gas exploration and production company with oil and gas assets in the STACK play in Garfield and Kingfisher Counties, Oklahoma, for an undisclosed purchase price;
• Representation of Concho Resources, Inc. in its purchase of producing and non-producing oil and gas assets in the Midland Basin for $600 million;
• Representation of a portfolio E&P company in its purchase of oil and gas assets in the Williston Basin for approximately $1.4 billion;
• Representation of a public company in its creation of a joint venture in the Merge/SCOOP/STACK play in the Anadarko Basin worth approximately $3 billion;
• Representation of a public company in its purchase of deepwater oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico for approximately $2 billion;
• Representation of a portfolio company in its sale of oil and gas assets in the Permian Basin for approximately $250 million; and
• Representation of a public oilfield services company in its offerings of debt, equity, and warrants worth approximately $540 million, $460 million, and $545 million, respectively.

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

Education

Graham received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center in 2016, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif and the Order of Barons. While in law school, Graham served as an editor for the University of Houston Law Review, the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, and Christian Bioethics. Graham received a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Rice University in 2014 and a Master’s degree, cum laude, in Philosophical Theology from Yale University in 2012. In 2009, he received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Cognitive Neuroscience and a B.A., magna cum laude, in Psychology and in Philosophy from Westmont College.