Profile details
About Philip Morgan
Philip is a partner in Freshfields’ global transactions group and heads our energy and natural resources practice in Asia.
He has over 20 years of experience advising corporates, financial investors and governments on their global acquisitions, joint ventures, project developments and divestments. Philip’s practice focuses primarily on three areas: transactions and projects in the energy and natural resources sector, including in renewables, CCUS and hydrogen, upstream and downstream oil & gas/LNG, chemicals and power; Indonesian transactions and matters across all sectors; and emerging markets M&A. He is also a member of our Sustainability Leadership Team and Global Hydrogen Group.
Since relocating to Southeast Asia more than 15 years ago, Philip has acted for clients on many of the most significant energy M&A transactions and projects in the Asia-Pacific region and globally, as well as a number of landmark and first of their kind transactions and projects in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia.
Philip is recognised as a leading lawyer by major legal directories. He is ranked Band 1 for International Energy & Natural Resources in Singapore, and recognized for his work in Indonesia in Projects & Energy, by Chambers and Partners, where clients say that he is 'commercial, pragmatic and a top energy lawyer in the region'. He is also named by Legal 500 as a 'Leading Individual' for Energy, and a 'Next Generation Lawyer' for Corporate and M&A, in Singapore. Philip is a member of the Jakarta steering committee of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators and an occasional lecturer at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.
Recent work
- Advising ConocoPhillips on the sale of its Indonesian oil and gas assets to Medco Energi for US$1.355 billion in the largest oil and gas M&A deal in Southeast Asia signed in 2021.
- Advising Rosneft on global oil and gas trading arrangements and on its strategic alliance with Pertamina, including the development with Pertamina of a $19bn refinery project in Tuban, Indonesia.
- Advising Repsol on the completed US$212.5m sale of its portfolio of upstream operated assets in Malaysia and Vietnam to Hibiscus Energy.
- Advising Rio Tinto plc on the US$3.5bn disposal of its interests in the Grasberg gold and copper mine to Inalum, the Indonesian state-owned miner.
- Advising clients including BP, CNOOC, ConocoPhillips, Hess Corporation, INPEX, Mandala Energy, Repsol and Udenna Corporation on various acquisitions and disposals of upstream oil & gas assets in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia.
- Advising BP on all aspects of its investment in, and the development of, terminal and storage facilities at Khor Al Zubayr in Southern Iraq.
- Advising BG Group on its US$5bn sale of its Queensland Curtis liquified natural gas pipeline sale to APA, Australia’s largest gas infrastructure business.
- Advising KazMunayGaz, the Kazakh national oil company, on its proposed $680m disposal of a 51 per cent interest in KMG International to CEFC China Energy Fund Limited, including related $3bn development financing arrangements and crude supply arrangements.
- Advising Brightoil Petroleum on its US$1.09bn acquisition of Anadarko’s Bohai Bay assets in China.
- Advising the Japanese trading houses and JICA on the disposal of their interests in the $1bn 600MW hydroelectric power station and aluminium smelter in Sumatra, Indonesia, to the Government of Indonesia.
Qualifications
Education
- University of Oxford, UK (ancient and modern history)
- BPP Law School, London, UK (postgraduate diploma in law)
Professional qualifications
- Admitted to the Bar in England and Wales