Charles Morrison

Charles counsels banks, governments, and companies in international financings, projects, and deals, with a principal focus on the energy sector, notably oil & gas. Charles is also the Chair of the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Charles has a wealth of international experience, especially in the Mediterranean region and Africa. For the past three years, he has led the advisory team assisting an EU government on its LNG import terminal/gas to power project. Prior to that, Charles led the legal team advising Sinopec on the acquisition of Chevron South Africa/Botswana and the legal team advising the Office of Quartet in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Energy Authority on the “Gas for Gaza” pipeline project. He is a member of the bar in Tanzania, where he advised lenders on a long-running power project financing for a number of years. 

Charles served for five years as the International Group Head of the finance and projects practice at a leading global firm. In 2018, he was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court and, in 2019, he became a Deputy High Court Judge.

Charles currently authors the "Guarantees and Indemnities" section of Practical Lending and Security Precedents, a practitioner’s text published by Sweet & Maxwell.

• Led the teams advising a North African national oil corporation on gas strategy and numerous upstream and midstream investment projects.
• Advised a Mediterranean state-owned natural gas company on the supply of LNG to Cyprus and the procurement, development, and financing of infrastructure (including pipelines).
• Advised an African government’s national petroleum corporation on the federal budget financing from oil production.
• Advised a Baltic government on all aspects of the dissolution of its joint venture with the Yukos Oil Group and the related sale of the country’s principal oil refinery.
• Advised an East Mediterranean government gas company on the introduction of gas supply to the Island, including network code, tariffs, regulatory issues, pipeline construction and financing, and GSAs.
• Advised two major international banks in respect of their World Bank-backed financing of the Sankofa Gas Project in Ghana.
• Advised an EU government on the Kavala Gas Storage Project, including the EU energy package issues, such as regulated third-party access/exemption.
• Advised an energy authority and multi-lateral agency on the pipeline for the Gas for Gaza Project.
• Advised the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its project partners in connection with the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline Project to construct a strategically important 614km gas pipeline in Nigeria, as part of the Trans-Nigeria Gas Pipeline Project.
• Led the legal team advising a southern African government on a major coal-to-liquid fuels project.
• Advised the consortia of local and international oil traders, and also oil companies, on the financing and development of the projects to rehabilitate Nigeria's state-owned oil refineries in Warri and Kaduna.
• Acted on behalf of an Emirates government on the negotiations in Tanzania to acquire the concession to build and operate a major gas pipeline and processing facility transporting gas from the major gas fields in the south of the country to the major cities in the north.
• Advised on the structured financing of the main refinery supplying London and the east of England during the insolvency process pending its closure, including drafting and negotiating terminal throughput, storage and processing agreements, and product sales agreements with IOCs and other customers.
• Advised an international energy company on a proposed acquisition of a majority shareholding in an oil refinery.
• Advised governments on the operation, refurbishment, and development of the joint government-owned Tazama pipeline, refinery, and processing facility at Indeni and Bwana Mkubwa terminal.
• Advising major Chinese SOE on the acquisition of Chevron South Africa/Botswana, including the Cape Town Oil Refinery, Durban oil import terminal, and 850 retail stations.
• Served as lead legal adviser to the purchaser on the acquisition of one of the largest US integrated fuels, lubricants, and chemical company’s mid- and downstream assets across Central America, overseeing due diligence, negotiating and drafting legal agreements, and securing necessary regulatory approvals. The transaction encompassed two oil refineries, multiple terminals and pipelines, and 290 service stations in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Panama.
• Advised an international oil trader on a joint venture project with a southern African government to build storage and pipeline facilities in Mozambique's principal ports, which included negotiating and drafting the legal agreements and advising on all other legal aspects of the project and its financing.
• Advised an EU government in relation to the Republic's interests in the Aphrodite gas field, Block 12 offshore Cyprus, which included advising on pipeline financing and construction, EU regulatory issues, gas sales, export and marketing agreements, and field development plans.
• Advised an international oil trading company on its project to construct an oil terminal (comprising an SBM, pipeline, and storage terminal) in Ghana, which included advising on all aspects of project structure, as well as drafting and negotiating the project/financing agreements.
• Advised a major Nigerian oil company in relation to the divestment of the companies comprising its downstream business (selling and distributing products from over 300 retail service stations and to over 500 industrial customers across Nigeria). The sale involved downstream subsidiaries in Ghana and Togo (with over 40 service stations).
• Advised the project company for the Butinge Terminal at Klaipeda, Lithuania (Klaipedos Nafta) on supply and storage issues.
• Led the team advising the licence-holder in relation to an assignment by Glencore of a 75% participating interest in the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the Matanda Block in Cameroon.

• Named a Leading Lawyer in Projects, Energy and Natural Resources – Oil & Gas (2023-2025), Legal 500 UK

• Member, Association of International Energy Negotiators
• Member, Law Society of England & Wales