Patrick Johnson
Patrick Johnson
Patrick Johnson
Patrick Johnson

Biography

Patrick is a partner in White & Case's Global Energy Practice based in Houston. He represents energy industry companies, private equity investors, alternative lenders and financial institutions in transactions that include acquisitions and divestitures of assets and companies, joint venture arrangements, structured finance, project development and project finance. He has extensive experience in the upstream, midstream, downstream, LNG and energy transition sectors.

From 2015 to 2017, Patrick worked as in-house counsel to ExxonMobil. In that role, he worked on upstream, midstream, and infrastructure projects under development in jurisdictions across the globe, with such projects including ExxonMobil's deepwater oil production project offshore Guyana and deepwater natural gas project in the Black Sea offshore Romania.

Experience

Select experience includes advising:

  • Vitol Inc., a leading global energy and commodities trader, and its affiliated entities, in connection with its equity investment in Delfin FLNG 1 JVCo LLC, the joint venture established to develop Delfin Midstream Inc.'s US$5 billion first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessel in the Gulf of Mexico.
  • Serra Verde Group in closing a US$565 million financing provided by the US DFC. Serra Verde is a large-scale producer of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and the only large-scale producer outside Asia of all four critical magnetic REEs. The proceeds of the financing will be used to finance the expansion and debottlenecking of Serra Verde’s mine located in the State of Goiás in central Brazil.
  • Serra Verde on its US$2.8 billion combination with USA Rare Earth to create a global leader spanning rare earths, oxides, metals and magnets.
  • Private credit fund on two separate US$4 billion+ capital solutions to support the acquisition and lease of GPUs to a leading US AI company for use in hyperscale datacenters in the US.
  • The co-investors in a Blackstone Credit & Insurance led investor consortium on a US$7 billion investment in Sempra Infrastructure Partners' Port Arthur LNG Phase 2. The investment will advance the development, construction and operation of the Port Arthur LNG Phase 2. The new phase will include two natural gas liquefaction trains, one LNG storage tank and associated facilities with a nameplate capacity of approximately 13 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of US-produced LNG to help produce reliable energy to global markets.
  • Storegga Limited on the negotiation of CCS agreements with customers for Storegga's Harvest Bend CCS project in Louisiana.
  • Large integrated energy company in the development of carbon capture and storage facilities to capture, transport and store CO2 emitted from one of the company's large-scale natural gas-fired power plant.*
  • Enbridge in its investment as a 45% equity partner in OnStream CO2, LLC, a joint venture with Carbonvert, LLC and Castex Carbon Solutions, LLC that is developing CO2 capture, transportation and sequestration projects, in which Enbridge will act as OnStream's preferred CO2 transportation provider.*
  • Large midstream company in development of a clean fuels gathering and production project to produce renewable natural gas from fugitive coal mine methane gas.*
  • Navigator CO2 Ventures LLC in the development of an industrial scale carbon capture pipeline system of more than 1,200 miles of new carbon dioxide pipeline across five Midwest states with the capability of permanently storing up to 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.*
  • Phillips 66 in the sale of the Belle Chasse Terminal, formerly the Alliance Refinery, to Harvest Midstream.*
  • Phillips 66 in the formation of Bluewater Texas Terminal LLC, a joint venture with Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd., to develop an offshore deepwater port project in the Port of Corpus Christi.*
  • Phillips 66 in joint venture construction and operating agreements with Marathon and an equity option with Enbridge in relation to the Gray Oak Pipeline joint venture for the development of the Gray Oak pipeline system.*
  • Phillips 66 in a joint venture with Buckeye Partners LP to develop the South Texas Gateway Terminal at the mouth of Corpus Christi Bay.*
  • Equinor in its $1.1 billion sale of a 50% interest in two U.S. offshore wind development projects to BP, including the formation of a partnership to develop and operate the Empire Wind project offshore New York and Beacon Wind project offshore Massachusetts, which together could generate up to 4.4 GW.*
  • Global Infrastructure Partners in the formation of OW Ocean Winds East Holdings, LLC, a joint venture with OW North America LLC, to develop an offshore wind project offshore New York and that secured one of six leases in the New York Bight offshore wind auction.*
  • TC Energy Corporation as U.S. counsel in connection with the Government of Alberta's $1.1 billion equity investment and $4.2 billion loan guarantee to support construction of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline.*
  • Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. in the acquisition of 100% of the equity interests in U.S. Oil & Refining Co. and certain affiliated entities for $358 million, including a 42,000 bpd refinery, a marine terminal and associated logistical system in Tacoma, Washington.*

* Experience prior to joining White & Case.
 

Texas
JD
The University of Texas

School of Law

BA
The University of Texas at Austin
English

Recognized by IFLR1000 for Project Development: Energy and Infrastructure (2024)

Recognized by Oil and Gas Investor as a "Forty under 40" honoree (2023)

Recognized by Law360 as a "Rising Star" in the category of Project Finance (2022)

Recognized by The Legal 500 for Energy Transactions: Electric Power (2023)

Recognized by Thompson Reuters as a "Super Lawyers, Texas Rising Star" (2023-2025)

"RNG's Role in Gas Infrastructure and Interconnections," RNG & SAF Capital Markets Conference, June 20, 2024

"Structuring Transportation and Sequestration Arrangements for CCS Projects," IEL Conference on Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage, October 2023

"Critical Considerations for the Development and Operation of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Projects," 68th Annual Natural Resources and Energy Law Institute, July 2022

"Beyond Contract Negotiation: Assessing Risk and Asking the Right Questions," The University of Texas School of Law's 44th Annual Corporate Counsel Institute, April 2022

"Updates on CCUS from the Commercial and Governmental Angles," Institute for Energy Law 12th Law of Shale Plays Conference, September 2021

Service areas