Taylor Pullins

Partner, Houston

Biography

Overview

Taylor Pullins is a partner in the Global Environmental Practice and the Global Mergers & Acquisitions Practice in the Houston office of White & Case. Taylor represents clients, particularly in the energy industry, in a broad range of environmental, health and safety (EHS), environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) and energy transition matters. He also leads the Firm's Global ESG & Sustainability Interest Group.

Taylor's transactional practice involves the drafting and negotiating of environmental terms and indemnity provisions in complex business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, project financings and security offerings. He has significant experience counseling clients on environmental permitting, enforcement defense matters, environmental litigation, internal investigations, and a broad range of environmental/regulatory matters affecting his clients' operations. In addition, Taylor assists clients on complex policy and business decisions relating to evolving regulatory and societal expectations around climate change and other ESG matters.

Prior to White & Case, Taylor served as Managing Counsel, Director of Sustainability, and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Noble Energy where he led EHS and regulatory legal matters across the company's portfolio of domestic and international energy assets. In that role, he counseled clients through complex regulatory challenges, remedial and environmental enforcement matters, environmental litigation, and the resolution of environmental liabilities encountered in transactions. Taylor also led Noble Energy's sustainability efforts, including climate and sustainability reporting.

Bars and Courts
Texas State Bar
US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Education
JD
Brigham Young University
BA
University of Nevada, Reno
Languages
English
Spanish

Experience

Representative matters include:

  • Representation of TotalEnergies on its agreement to acquire 100 percent of Talos Low Carbon Solutions, an American company focused on carbon capture and storage.
  • Representation of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC – Masdar, the United Arab Emirates' clean energy powerhouse, in connection with a definitive agreement to acquire a 50 percent stake in Terra-Gen Power Holdings II, LLC (Terra-Gen), one of the largest independent renewable energy power producers in the US, from Energy Capital Partners (ECP). Established in 2007, Terra-Gen is a leading US developer, owner and operator of utility-scale renewable energy projects in North America, and Terra-Gen currently operates approximately 2.4 GWs of wind and solar and 5.1 GWh of energy storage facilities across 32 renewable power sites throughout the US, predominantly in California and Texas.
  • Representation of Orbia's Fluorinated Solutions business in connection with its entry into an incorporated joint venture and related project agreements with Solvay to create the largest polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) production facilities for battery materials in North America. The project is partially supported from a grant from the US Department of Energy.
  • Representation of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) on the development of STRATOS, the world's largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility. Occidental has formed a joint venture with BlackRock Inc., the world's largest asset manager, in connection with the STRATOS project with BlackRock investing US$550 million into the joint venture.
  • Representation of Aramco, one of the world's leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, in its acquisition of 100% equity stake in Esmax Distribusción SpA, a leading diversified downstream fuels and lubricants retailer in Chile with a network of retail fuel stations, airport operations, fuel distribution terminals and lubricant blending plant across Chile, from Southern Cross Group, a Latin America-focused private equity company.
  • Representation of EnCap Investments L.P., a leading private equity firm specializing in the energy industry, in its sale of Broad Reach Power LLC, one of the premier independent utility-scale energy storage and renewable energy platforms in the United States and a portfolio company of EnCap, to the French multinational utility company ENGIE.
  • Representation of Hess Corporation in its $750 million purchase of 37.5 million jurisdictional carbon credits from Guyana in one of the largest-of-its-kind deals aimed at protecting forests to combat climate change. This milestone nature based solutions transaction involved the first time a country was issued carbon credits on the ART (Architecture for REDD+ Transactions) registry specifically designed for the voluntary and compliance carbon markets for successfully preventing forest loss and degradation.
  • Representation of TotalEnergies Renewables USA in its acquisition from Austin, Texas-based Core Solar, LLC of 4GW of utility-scale solar and energy storage development projects across several U.S. states and power markets.
  • Representation of Continental Resources, Inc., a top 10 independent oil producer in the US based in Oklahoma City, in its US$3.25 billion acquisition of certain assets in the Permian Basin from affiliates of Pioneer Natural Resources Company, another large independent oil and gas exploration and production company based in Dallas.
  • Representation of InterPrivate III Financial Partners Inc. (NYSE: IPVF), a SPAC, in its US$2.3 billion acquisition of Aspiration Partners, Inc., a global leader in Sustainability as a Service solutions for consumers and companies.
  • Representation of Diamond S Shipping Inc., one of the largest publicly listed owners and operators of crude and product tankers, in its US$2 billion merger with International Seaways, Inc., one of the largest tanker companies worldwide providing energy transportation services for crude oil and petroleum products.
  • Representation of a syndicate of commercial and institutional lenders, led by Société Générale, in the up to US$1.25 billion financing of the development of the deepwater Shenandoah field in the US Gulf of Mexico and related offshore infrastructure being developed by Beacon Offshore Energy, Navitas Petroleum and Houston Energy Quantum.
  • Representation of Exxon Mobil Corporation in its US$1.15 billion sale of its Santoprene TPV Elastomer business, a manufacturer of rubbers used in the automotive, consumer and construction sectors, to Celanese Corporation.
  • Representation of electric commercial vehicle company VIA Motors International, Inc. on its acquisition (in an all-stock merger valued at up to US$630 million) by Ideanomics, Inc., a global company focused on driving the adoption of commercial electric vehicles and associated energy consumption.
  • Representation of Last Mile Energy Solutions, LLC, a developer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and distribution assets with headquarters in Houston, in its acquisition of CenterPoint Energy Mobile Energy Solutions, Inc., a provider of solutions with respect to compressed natural gas and LNG.
  • Representation of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) in its US$508 million sale of non-strategic acreage in the Permian Basin to an affiliate of Colgate Energy Partners III, LLC.
  • Representation of Sixth Street Partners, LLC, a global investment firm, in its US$405 million acquisition of PDP assets from Laredo Petroleum, Inc., a company focused on exploration in the Permian basin.
  • Representation of ExxonMobil Chemical Company in its US$156 million acquisition of all shares of Materia, Inc., a company focused on manufacturing advanced materials.
  • Representation of CVC Capital Partners in its acquisition of:
    • Mediaocean, the leading global omnichannel advertising platform.
    • a majority interest in ExamWorks, a global leader in independent medical examinations, peer reviews, document management, and related services.

Representative matters prior to joining White & Case include:

  • Representation of an upstream company and midstream affiliate in negotiating environmental and indemnity provisions of their merger agreement with a large integrated energy company.
  • Representation of an oilfield services company in resolving liability from contaminated lands as part of a consolidation transaction and initial public offering.
  • Representation of a public upstream company in preparing and publishing climate resilience report, refreshing sustainability reporting to include key elements of Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and rechartering Board's EHS committee to include climate and other ESG considerations.
  • Representation of public companies in responding to formal shareholder proposals relating to climate disclosures, emissions performance and risk assessment matters.
  • Representation of upstream and midstream companies on engagement with ESG analysts and investors.
  • Representation of an upstream company on emissions trading opportunities relating to new venture exploration projects.
  • Representation of upstream and midstream companies in federal and state environmental enforcement matters involving air, water and waste issues.
  • Representation of an upstream company in defending challenges by citizen groups to key air and water discharge permits for offshore production and processing facility.
  • Representation of upstream and midstream companies in developing prioritized management systems relating to personal safety and process safety events in their operations.
  • Representation of upstream, midstream, and oilfield services companies on the performance of EHS compliance audits under federal and state audit statutes.
  • Representation of an upstream company in its internal investigations of EHS incidents (offshore and onshore).
  • Representation of upstream companies on asset retirement obligations as part of Gulf of Mexico asset transactions.
  • Representation of an oil and gas operator in the Gulf of Mexico against criminal prosecution relating to alleged oil spills and compliance with overboard water discharge rules.
  • Representation of upstream companies on environmental requirements for treatment, disposal and beneficial reuse of wastewater from shale operations.
  • Representation of a company operating a produced water treatment facility on compliance with requirements under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the RCRA exemption for exploration and production wastes, and state beneficial reuse regulations.
  • Representation of a group of energy and manufacturing companies identified as potentially responsible parties in a CERCLA cost recovery action, resulting from historical disposal of waste liquids at a wastewater treatment facility in Texas.
  • Representation of a midstream company in its class action litigation arising from a crude oil spill.