Energy & Natural Resources
Industry experts with a business-oriented approach
One-stop shop for energy & mining projects
The energy and natural resources sector is characterised by a return of investment over long periods of time. Here, more than almost any other sector, you need a team who not only understands the regulations and their implementation, but also knows intimately the market drivers and its risks. Due to the direct industry background of our lawyers, many of whom have worked for major international energy companies, we understand the commercial drivers in the sector and can offer you not only technically excellent advice but also industry insight and recognition of business objectives.
We can advise you on all issues that may arise during the life cycle of large-scale energy or mining projects, including on legislative, political and regulatory questions, as well as with tax issues. Let us help you manoeuvre through the labyrinth of regulations which are not always entirely clear in our developing markets. We aim to mitigate risk but sometimes disputes are unavoidable; we can support you in all administrative, litigation and arbitration proceedings including investment protection and disputes brought under the Energy Charter Treaty.
Key experts
What others say about us
One client asserts: “We receive the highest level of service from them, including new business-oriented approaches.”
“Their energy sector knowledge and experience in the whole region is quite wide, so it is very easy to receive a legal opinion from them relating not just to one country but to the region,” states another client.
– The Legal 500
What makes our team the best law firm for you?
Our regional, integrated firm offers distinct advantages, spanning the full spectrum of legal services.
- An established international law firm with 60+ years of experience in Austria and CEE/SEE
- A fully integrated, single team of 340 locally-qualified lawyers in 13 countries and offices
- Collaboration and innovation across multidisciplinary teams and offices
- Excellent client satisfaction – responsive, client-oriented, and consistent
- Experience with complex and cross-border matters covering the full spectrum of legal services
- Knowledge and expertise to add value to deals across industries
Energy & natural resources legal experts, handling all legislative, political & regulatory issues
Oil & gas
We can help you with:
- fuel, gas, pipeline throughput, aviation, lubes and specialties;
- bunkering;
- concessions;
- exploration, production and storage;
- upstream, midstream and downstream;
- offshore construction, permitting and development;
- environmental law and oil and gas law.
Renewable energy
Given the current European and global emphasis on green initiatives and reduction of carbon emissions, renewable energy has centre stage. Whichever stage of your project, we can assist you with all issues from development and financing to construction and operation. Our guides on renewable energy law, energy efficiency and waste to energy provide unique insight into the national legislation of the CEE/SEE region. We advise on a wide range of green energy projects, including:
- photovoltaic;
- wind;
- hydroelectric;
- geothermal;
- biofuels;
- biomass;
- waste to energy;
- energy efficiency;
- transmission and smart grid;
- carbon trading.
Nuclear energy
With direct industry experience, we have the necessary skills and hands-on experience to know what you are up against in developing and running a nuclear power plant. Our lawyers have worked in-house at nuclear power plants, while others worked on large-scale project developments from ground-breaking through to completion. We can help you with the regulatory and transactional issues of existing facilities, as well as assist you on the application for, securing of, or challenges to the regulatory approvals and permits required for new operations in the nuclear energy sector, including:
- construction and operation of nuclear plants;
- decommissioning of nuclear plants;
- transportation and disposal of nuclear fuel.
Utilities
Whichever part of the utilities sector you belong to, we offer legal expertise combined with industry-specific knowledge of electricity, gas, district heating, water, wastewater and waste management. We can help you with:
- power construction;
- pricing and tariffs,
- power supply and purchase agreements;
- trading agreements and balancing groups;
- licensing.
Mining
Exploration and mining laws have become increasingly complicated in recent years and cases often involve cross-border issues. Whether you are a mining company, exploration service company, drilling service company, investment house or an individual investor, you benefit from our law firm’s mining experience of representing clients in numerous local and international mining and minerals projects. We can advise you on:
- mining operations;
- analysis of legislation concerning mining and exploration;
- obtaining exploration licenses and mining concessions;
- environmental issues;
- funding mining ventures and projects.
Regulatory
Recent years have seen increasing economic regulatory requirements at European and local levels, in terms of both formal legal requirements and less formal “soft law”. We can advise you on all permitting and licensing issues relating to the construction and operation of energy assets, including unbundling aspects and compliance with market rules. By maintaining excellent contacts with the relevant authorities and regulators, you benefit from our representation in all kinds of administrative proceedings.
Environmental
Considering environmental issues at an early stage of planning is essential to save time, money and nerves. The provisions of environmental law play an important role in acquisitions, as well as in the planning, implementation, development and licensing of energy and other natural resource projects, and are crucial for their rapid and efficient implementation.
A multitude of national and European enviornmental laws and regulations makes it increasingly difficult to obtain a clear and comprehensive picture of the legal requirements. Through their years of experience, our environmental law specialists are ideally equipped to filter out and handle the relevant issues for you.
Get in touch
When you need an international team with extensive experience, Wolf Theiss is your right partner to support your business goals through profound legal practice.
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Accessibility Statement
- www.wolftheiss.com
- 5 February 2023
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more. This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs. Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments. If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following emailScreen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:- Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
- Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Disability profiles supported in our website
- Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
- Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
- Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
- ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
- Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
- Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
- Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
- Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
- Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
- Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
- Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
- Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
- Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.