Working with oil, gas and water clients on pricing, capacity and supply disputes.
How Michael can help
Michael advises clients in the energy and natural resources sectors on disputes involving infrastructure, regulation and contractual performance. He has acted in claims arising from capacity agreements, contamination issues, termination clauses and balancing codes. His experience spans both domestic utilities and international energy projects, including upstream gas disputes and supply chain litigation.
He is regularly instructed in complex technical cases where legal arguments intersect with industry standards and regulatory frameworks.
Typical instructions include:
- Acting in disputes over capacity, supply and termination in the water and energy sectors
- Advising on contamination claims involving gas infrastructure and safety regulations
- Representing clients in arbitrations linked to oil and gas contracts in the Middle East
- Supporting companies navigating regulatory challenges or restructuring in energy markets
Examples of work
- Michael has extensive regulatory experience, having advised the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) on numerous occasions and the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).
- Castle Water Ltd v Thames Water Utilities Limited [2020] EWHC 1374 (TCC)
Acted, with Neil Kitchener QC, for Castle Water, a privately-owned water and wastewater retail services provider. The dispute concerned multiple breaches of contract alleged both by and against Castle Water, in relation to the sale by Thames Water of its non-household retail division of water and sewerage services to Castle. The case involved thirteen separate heads of claim and tort (totalling around £40 million in value) and three contractual counterclaims raising numerous difficult contractual construction, damages, causation and mitigation issues in a complex technical context. - Advised in a dispute involving a threatened shut-down of a private power station supplying large commercial customers as a result of the insolvency of the electricity provider that runs the plant.
- Advised on aspects of the implementation and operation of the Balancing and Settlement Code for electricity balancing under Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2195.
- Advised a company on the termination by National Grid of Capacity Agreements in the electricity Capacity Market, involving threatened judicial review proceedings.
- Advised and acted for a number of companies and other organisations against local water companies for overcharges for sewerage and water services (including in circumstances where the water company is alleged to have wrongly claimed a private sewer as public).
- Advised the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) on modifications to water companies’ licences (in relation to undue preference and undue discrimination in the provision of services) and on the implications of potential challenges to those modifications.
- LCIA Proceedings
Instructed by the claimant, a major oil and gas company, in a dispute about the development of oil and gas fields in Iraq. Specifically instructed on the question of quantum: as a result of the respondent’s alleged torts, the claimant had been unable to develop several oil and gas fields, and the quantum exercise involve an assessment of the profitability of the hypothetical development. - Advising the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) on various issues in the context of its periodic Price Review for water companies (PR14).
- Advising Ofgem on the introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive Regulations 2011.
- Advising a major energy company on its right to obtain the names of leasehold tenants of residential properties from the owner housing developers and housing authorities.
- Advising, with Thomas Sharpe KC, the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) in its review of amending the regime of setting price limits (subsequently implemented).
- Advising, with Thomas Sharpe KC, the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) on various regulatory issues arising from the Thames Tideway Scheme.
- Advising, with Thomas Sharpe KC, the Water Services Regulatory Authority (Ofwat) on its powers and duties of enforcement under sections 18, 19 and 22A of the Water Industries Act 1991.
- Advising, with Ian Glick KC, a major multinational oil and gas corporation on the proper construction of payment provisions in a contract for engineering works on a gas terminal, and on the meaning of the term ‘consequential loss’ in the contract