Panel Session

Countries Forum: Legal, Contracts and Costs

Tuesday, 13 September 2022, 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.  |  Tunis, Tunisia

With high global oil and gas prices and the COVID pandemic coming under control, the North Africa and Mediterranean (NAMed) region can hopefully begin to look forward to a brighter economic future but are the key fundamentals attractive enough for the development and exploration of oil and gas resources in the region? With the emergence of new resource rich provinces (Guyana, Suriname, Namibia, Ivory Coast, South Africa) and the increasing need for security of supply, due to the war in Ukraine, there is still high competition for new capital investment. The NAMed Region needs to ensure it provides a business environment that is attractive to investment and there are a number of factors which are relevant to this:

• A stable political regime with a simple and efficient legal and regulatory framework that accelerates the approval process for investment decisions and M&A activity.
• A clear domestic energy strategy, action plan and regulatory framework that is adaptive to rapidly changing global conditions.
• Infrastructure that allows efficient transportation of oil and gas reserves to both local and international markets especially as demand increases with the expected global economic growth.
• Access to a skilled local workforce and stable industrial relations that are conducive to the rapid development of energy resources.
• A competitive cost structure throughout the region with access to key services for the exploration and development of resources.
• Continued control over the COVID pandemic through an effective vaccine roll out across the whole region.
• A balanced approach to energy reform and the transition to greener forms of energy supply.
• A transparent process for the award of new licenses with fiscal terms allowing a balanced approach to risk and reward that are attractive to all sizes of energy company.
• Collaboration between countries within the region and between energy companies and the host governments.

Maintaining a control over these factors and especially the political stability of the individual countries and the contractual framework for the development of energy assets will be essential for the confidence of external capital investment. If there is a perception that a country has excessive government take or involvement causing unnecessary delays, complex legal frameworks, corruption and political instability then investment will very quickly disappear.

This panel session will discuss the key legal, contractual and cost fundamentals for creating a positive business environment for investment at both the local and regional level in the NAMed.

Moderator

Speakers

Walid is a Senior Legal Counsel Officer in the Petroleum Agreement Department at the Tunisian Company of Petroleum Activities “ETAP”. In his current position he is responsible for negotiating, drafting and implementing a wide variety of simple and complex Oil and Gas agreements that manage exploration or exploitation of hydrocarbons.

Before joining “ETAP”, Walid had worked for 12 years in the Ministry of Finance as a Tax Inspector in The General Taxation Department. He was in charge of Preparing the tax control program, its execution and the monitoring of tax performance and tax disputes.

In his current capacity as Senior Legal Counsel Officer, Walid assists the Petroleum Agreement Department Director with research, analysis, visuals and comparative studies, to support the development of oil and gas contracts in accordance with corporate requirements, supporting legal requirements and procedures to secure and protect the business interests of “ETAP”.

Walid is writing a thesis relating to the rules of ethics in international arbitration for a master's degree in Governance and Anti-Corruption from the University of Carthage, Tunisia.

He is graduated from the University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of law and political sciences with a Bachelor in Business law.

He is a native speaker in Arabic and fluent in French, Italian and English. Walid is married and father of two children. In his pastime, Walid likes reading Arabic literature, listening to Arab classic music and discovering new recipes of Italian food.

Started in the Oil & Gas industry upon graduating from the Tunis National Engineering School, when recruited by Schlumberger. He then held various field and management positions when moved to Paris then Dubai as part of the company’s A&D services. He was In charge of the water and carbon sequestration group in North Africa until 2008, appointed as Tunisia General Manager, leading over 500 employees and working with major stakeholders. In 2012 transferred to Abu-Dhabi-UAE to hold a regional lead role for integrated projects before setting up Al-HOSN Energy consulting in 2016, Innovative Production Services in 2018.

Hichem completed a Master of Science at the Heriot-Watt University in the UK in 2015 and is currently the president of the Tunisia Energy Society (TENS), Hichem is a former SPE and AIPN member.

Pricing:

Included with registration

Room Assignment:

Laico Tunis Spa and Conference Center

Venue

Laico Tunis Spa and Conference Center

Mohamed V Avenue, Human Rights Square

Tunis, Tunis 1001

Tunisia

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