NAPE Week Seminars

SPEAKER BIO

Eric Fry most recently served as an Executive in Residence for the Energy Management Program at UT Austin’s McCombs School of Business and has over 35 years of experience in the domestic and international upstream oil and gas business. Prior to the UT engagement, he was with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation as a Director – International Negotiations where he led a negotiations group, responsible for all non-U.S. negotiation activities within Anadarko’s international exploration portfolio.

Harry W. Sullivan is an International Energy Attorney based in Dallas, Texas, where he is an Adjunct Professor at SMU’s Dedman School of Law and at Texas A&M School of Law. He also works for Kosmos Energy in their West Africa exploration activities. His previous experience includes fourteen years as Senior Counsel-International in the International E&P Legal Group of ConocoPhillips, Of Counsel with Thompson & Knight LLP, fifteen years as Chief Counsel-International and Senior Counsel for Atlantic Richfield Company and five years as Senior Counsel for Sun Oil Company. His practice and experience focuses on the upstream and midstream oil and gas industry, both in the U.S.A. and internationally, in more than 25 different countries.

Mr. Schmid elected to retire in 2018 from Chevron after 31 years. For the past 7 years, Tom worked in Chevron’s global Major Capital Projects Group assisting Project Teams in developing strategies for its major projects by managing its commercial negotiations with large EPC construction contracts and its many multinational vendors and suppliers. Most recently, Tom assisted project teams in settling post-project construction claims with contractors and vendors. Previous to this assignment, Mr. Schmid was the Deepwater Commercial Manager for New Ventures in West Africa, where his primary job duties included negotiating new offshore business opportunities for upstream growth. Prior to that assignment, Tom was Commercial/Land Coordinator for Chevron’s Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Capital Projects Group, based in Houston. Prior to that, Tom was the Oil Shale Development Manager post-merger for Chevron and Texaco’s Shale Oil assets in Western Colorado. Previous to that, Tom spent 4 years in Sumatra, Indonesia as a Technical Contracts Specialist with Caltex, a Chevron Affiliate. While in that assignment, Tom was responsible for developing new contracting concepts, assisting contract teams with major service contracts, and developing contracting strategies. Prior to joining Caltex, Tom was the Business Development Coordinator, in Chevron’s Gulf of Mexico Business Unit in New Orleans.

Mr. Schmid served six years on the Board of Directors for AIPN and was co-chair for the 2012 AIPN Spring Conference in Washington D.C. His most recent endeavors with AIPN were to lead the development of an ‘Above Ground Risk’ course for AIPN, completed in early 2020. Tom served as co-chair of the AIPN Drilling Contract Model Form Subcommittee responsible for drafting a new model form international offshore drilling contract, completed in 2020. Tom similarly served on the API Model Form Subcommittee responsible for revising the 1996 Offshore Operating Agreement model form. Tom later served as chairman for the AAPL sponsored Deepwater Model Form Subcommittee responsible for drafting the industry’s first model form Operating Agreement for Deepwater. Tom has been a guest speaker at South Texas’ Annual Oil and Gas Law Program, as well as other industry and Chevron internal events. Tom joined Chevron in 1988 as a Land Attorney and has held various technical and management positions in Chevron, having both onshore and offshore areas of responsibility. Prior to joining Chevron, Tom held various drilling, reservoir, and production engineering assignments at other oil and gas companies.

Tom received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1978 and his J.D. from South Texas College of Law in 1984. Tom is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas and is a member of the State Bar of Texas. Past and present professional affiliations include the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Federal Bar - Southern District of Texas, member of the Colorado Water Congress, and Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, Petroleum Landmen’s Association of New Orleans, and the Houston Association of Petroleum Landmen.

Austin Brister is a Partner with McGinnis Lochridge in Houston. He represents oil and gas operators, nonoperators, and mineral owners in oil and gas disputes. Austin has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in federal and state courtrooms across Texas, including courts in South Texas, West Texas, East Texas, and Central Texas. Austin seeks out creative and practical business solutions before resorting to litigation. But, when necessary, Austin works hard to implement aggressive strategies in the courthouse. Austin has successfully handled disputes concerning mineral and leasehold title, adverse possession, surface trespass and damages, royalty calculation and payment issues, issues arising out of purchase and sale transactions, operator/nonoperator disputes, breach of joint operating agreement, lease termination/saving disputes, and retained acreage disputes. Austin has taken and defended depositions of witnesses ranging from expert witnesses, chief operating officers, lawyers, engineers, drilling rig operators, and equipment operators. Austin is an active member of the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, where he currently serves as a Trustee-At Large, Co-Chair of the Oil and Gas and Landman's sections for the Annual Institute, and on the Foundation's Programs Committee.

Austin is also on the Advisory Board for the Institute for Energy Law. Austin frequently publishes articles and gives presentations on upstream oil and gas law. In recent years, he has published several articles within the Texas State Bar OGERL Section Report, authored multiple articles and gave presentations for Annual Institutes and other programs for the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, authored and presented a paper for the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute, co-authored papers for the Institute for Energy Law, and published articles within AAPL’s Landman Magazine.

Judith M. Matlock is Senior of Counsel with Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP in Denver, Colorado. She has been in private practice since 1982. Ms. Matlock represents a diverse range of clients in the oil and gas and public utility industries. Her practice includes representing clients in connection with regulation, contracting, and litigation, as well as with royalties and taxes on production. She is involved in all aspects of the gathering, transportation, processing, fractionation, and marketing of natural gas, liquids, and crude oil, including advising clients on the federal and state jurisdictional status of transportation facilities. Her practice also encompasses representing producers in connection with the calculation, payment, and reporting of royalties and production taxes. She assists clients with ONRR data mining requests, the ONRR marketable condition rule and associated unbundling requirements, and state, federal, and Indian royalty and tax audits and appeals. Additionally, she represents producers in connection with private royalty litigation including class action lawsuits. She conducts in-house royalty payment and reporting training seminars and assists companies with internal royalty payment and reporting compliance self-audits. She has over 25 years of experience in public utilities matters, including acquisitions of public utilities, electric resource planning, gas transportation, CPCN proceedings, Colorado’s Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act, franchise and street lighting agreement negotiations, and other matters. She is a frequent lecturer and writer on federal royalties and numerous other energy-related topics. Ms. Matlock is an active participant in The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law (FNREL). She has served on the Executive Committee, as a trustee, and as a co-chair of the Special Institutes Committee. She has also been the program chair for several FNREL special institutes, short courses, and for the 2010 Annual Institute. In 2020, Ms. Matlock was named an honorary trustee the FNREL, which is a lifetime appointment, and the highest honor bestowed by the Foundation.

Jennifer N. Horchem is Of Counsel with Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP in Denver, Colorado. Her practice focuses on public lands, federal oil and gas leasing, energy, oil and gas acquisition and divestiture. She brings to Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP unique competencies acquired during her seven years as Associate General Counsel and Vice President – Land Administration for an independent exploration and production company. There, she was involved with both the royalty (Office of Natural Resources Revenue) and operations (Bureau of Land Management) side of public lands. Her work involved state and federal royalty and tax audits, application of the marketable condition rule to federal and Indian oil and gas leases, and dual accounting and major portion for Indian oil and gas leases. She was also involved with communitization agreements and other public lands matters. In her energy practice, she collaborated with outside counsel, landmen, and brokers during acquisitions and sales; conducted due diligence; and drafted lease-related documents, exploration and development agreements, and purchase and sale agreements, as well as reviewed title opinions. Her litigation responsibilities involved title and royalty payment issues, as well as the drafting and negotiating of settlement agreements. Prior to her in-house position, Ms. Horchem was an associate at two Kansas law firms. Her work encompassed oil and gas, real estate, probate, and administrative law including representation of an electric cooperative before the Kansas Corporation Commission (after having previously clerked for the Advisory Counsel’s Office of the Kansas Corporation Commission).

Niki Roberts is Counsel in the Houston office of Hogan Lovells. She guides companies through energy transactions with a particular focus on upstream and midstream transactions. She handles commercial agreements and has experience with acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, private equity investments and strategic transactions for public and private companies in the energy industry. Niki represents U.S. and international project developers, sponsors and other investors in energy infrastructure and markets, including private equity funds, independent power and gas producers and multinational companies. Niki advises clients on a variety of legal matters, including agreements related to purchases and sales; joint exploration and development, including joint operations and lease acquisitions; development of renewable and fossil-fired power generation and energy storage facilities; development, financing, acquisition, disposition and restructuring of energy and infrastructure projects; and gathering, transportation, processing, production handling, production sharing, and similar midstream and downstream agreements. Before joining Hogan Lovells, Niki worked in upstream oil and gas with experience in onshore, offshore, and land administration.

Nick Goodling is Real Estate Senior Counsel with Clearway Energy Group in Houston, Texas. He provides leadership and real estate legal support for utility-scale renewable energy projects at all phases of the development life cycle through construction and operation of the project. Nick manages teams of attorneys and real estate professionals that handle real estate legal support, title review, and curative processes for all wind and solar power generation and energy storage projects developed by the company.

Stephanie M. Regenold is a Partner in the Portland office of Perkins Coie . She counsels clients on development of major infrastructure projects, including natural resource and renewable projects, highway and public and private transportation projects, and commercial development. Stephanie advises on both public and private land development and multiple-use projects, from initiation through completion, including projects within the oil and gas, mining, timber, and renewable wind, solar, and hydro industries. Stephanie advises clients on mining claim issues, such as extralateral rights, and royalty and lease disputes, in Montana, Idaho, Alaska, and other western states. She performs due diligence and title reviews of large land acreages for natural resource and energy project development, acquisitions, divestitures, and financings, including title review of city tracts in the Bakken Shale Play in Montana and North Dakota. In addition to title review, her practice includes negotiations and litigation relating to permitting, title, payment of royalties and lease disputes, and further extends to forest products matters, including timber export and land disputes. Stephanie has served as lead counsel for major project acquisitions and divestitures and for public agencies and private-sector clients under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including Federal Highway Administration NEPA assignments, and related issues such as compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Federal Land Policy & Management Act (FLPMA), National Forest Management Act (NFMA), and Clean Air Act (CAA). Her experience includes permitting and regulatory compliance, negotiating land acquisitions, surface and subsurface leases, and right-of-way agreements, land use and real estate matters, which includes solving complex title-related matters and disputes, and administrative proceedings and environmental litigation at both the state and federal level.