Rahul D. Vashi is a partner in the Houston office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is Co-Chair of the firm’s Oil and Gas practice group and a member of the firm's Energy and Infrastructure and Mergers and Acquisitions practice groups.
Rahul’s practice focuses on acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic joint ventures involving a broad range of energy assets, with an emphasis on the upstream and midstream sectors. Rahul’s practice includes advising clients with the formation of drilling partnerships, joint development arrangements, farmout and participation agreements and other joint venture arrangements, the acquisition and divestiture of upstream and midstream oil and gas assets and companies, and oil and gas special situations and alternative financing transactions.
Rahul has been recognized in Chambers Global for Energy: Oil & Gas — Transactional (USA) for 2022–2024 , and in Chambers USA for Energy: Oil & Gas — Transactional (Nationwide) for 2019–2024, with clients noting that "his strengths are his attention to detail and breadth of knowledge. He provides practical advice and appreciates what businesses are trying to accomplish." The Legal 500 U.S. recognized Rahul for his work in Energy Transactions: Oil and Gas for 2020-2022, as well as being recognized as On the Rise by Texas Lawyer at the Texas Legal Excellence Awards in 2021. Law360 has recently named Rahul as a Top Energy Attorney under 40 for 2024, and Texas Super Lawyers Magazine has recognized him has a 2024 Rising Star for M&A.
Rahul earned his Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law in 2010. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007, earning his Bachelor of Arts with Plan II Honors, and his Bachelor of Business Administration with Business Honors.
Rahul is a member of the Houston Bar Association in the Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Section. He is admitted to practice in the state of Texas.
Representative Matters*
- Representation of Ovintiv Inc. in its $4.275 billion acquisition of all leasehold interest and related assets of Black Swan Oil & Gas, PetroLegacy Energy and Piedra Resource, and the concurrent $825 million sale of its Bakken assets
- Representation of IOG Resources II LLC in its acquisition of Appalachia Basin non-operated oil & gas assets
- Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. in its joint venture with Conduit Power, LLC to use gas from oilfield production in the Permian Basin to generate electrical power
- Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. in its $330 million acquisition of oil and gas assets in the Permian Basin from Pecos Oil & Gas, LLC
- IOG Resources II LLC in its acquisition of a non-operated interest in Appalachia Basin producing gas assets operated by Seneca Resources from an undisclosed buyer
- Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. in its $330 million acquisition of a 36.7% working interest in certain oil and gas leases and wells and associated midstream assets and infrastructure in Midland County, Texas, from Midland-Petro D.C. Partners, LLC
- Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. in its $130 million acquisition of certain non-operated interests in the Delaware Basin from a private seller
- Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. in its $157.5 million acquisition of certain non-operated interests in the Delaware Basin from Alpha Energy Partners
- EQT Corporation in its $5.2 billion acquisition from THQ Appalachia I, LLC and THQ-XcL Holdings I, LLC (affiliates of Quantum Energy Partners and Tug Hill Operating) of their direct and indirect upstream and midstream subsidiaries and associated oil and gas assets, properties and gathering systems in the Appalachian Basin
- Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. in its $110 million acquisition of Midland Basin oil and gas properties
- Devon Energy Corporation in its $1.8 billion acquisition of Validus Energy, an operator of Eagle Ford Shale assets
- Freehold Royalties Ltd. in its $100 million acquisition of oil and gas mineral and royalty assets in the Midland Basin from a private seller
- H3 Minerals LLC, an affiliate of Haymaker Minerals & Royalties III and portfolio company of Denham Capital, in its acquisition of a large-scale diversified mineral portfolio in Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Montana
- Stronghold Energy, a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus LLC, in the $465 million sale of its Permian Basin assets to Ring Energy, Inc.
- Red Bluff Resources and Bricktown Energy, portfolio companies of HPS Investment Partners, in the sale of substantially all of their oil and gas properties to Citizen Energy
- Northern Oil & Gas in its $170 million acquisition of working interest properties in the Williston Basin
- North Hudson Resources Partners and its affiliated funds in the $402 million purchase of LOGOS Resources II LLC, an operator of oil and gas assets in the San Juan Basin, from affiliates of ArcLight Capital Partners
- Alamo Borden County IV, an operating subsidiary of Alamo Frac Holdings, in its $201 million sale of oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin to HighPeak Energy, Inc.
- Kimmeridge in its $200 million investment in Chestnut Carbon LLC, a nature-based carbon offset platform
- IOG Resources LLC in its acquisition of Delaware Basin producing oil and gas assets from Tier 1 Merced Holdings LLC Diversified Energy Company in the closing of a sustainability-linked asset backed securitization (ABS) of certain Barnett Shale assets in North Texas
- Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. in its acquisition of non-operated Permian Basin assets owned by affiliates of Veritas Energy, LLC for $406.5 million, plus ~ 1.9 million common equity warrants with an exercise price of $28.30 per share
- Elk Range Royalties, LP in its acquisition of royalty interests in the Permian Basin from an undisclosed seller
- Northern Oil and Gas Inc. in its $154 million acquisition of non-operated interests across over 400 producing wellbores primarily in Williams, McKenzie, Mountrail and Dunn counties in North Dakota
- Warwick Investment Group on its $450 million acquisition of operated oil and gas assets in Texas's Eagle Ford Shale from Rosewood Resources and related drilling commitments
- Freehold Royalties Ltd. in its $180 million acquisition of royalty assets in the Eagle Ford oil basin from a private seller
- Quantum Energy Partners in its partnership with Houston Energy to form HEQ Deepwater with more than $400 million of equity capital commitments and HEQ’s first major acquisition of oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico
- Vine Energy Inc. in its $2.2 billion acquisition by Chesapeake Energy Corporation
- Indigo Natural Resources LLC in its $2.7 billion merger with Southwestern Energy Company
- Pickering Energy Partners in its partnership with a private operator in the Midland Basin
- IOG Resources, LLC in its acquisition of non-operated horizontal wells in the Utica Shale from Sequel Energy Group
- EQT Corp. in its $735 million acquisition of Chevron USA’s upstream and midstream assets in the Appalachian Basin
- HPS Investment Partners LLC in its $32.96 million acquisition of Echo Energy Partners I LLC’s assets out of bankruptcy
- Cordero Energy Resources LLC in its $130 million sale of certain oil and gas assets in Howard County, Texas, to Laredo Petroleum
- The private equity sponsors and Sable Permian Resources, LLC (as operator of the oil and gas assets) in the successful completion of AEPB’s $2.1 billion out-of-court recapitalization. The transaction reduced AEPB’s debt obligations by approximately $1.4 billion and reduced upcoming debt maturities over the next four years to approximately $36 million from approximately $2.1 billion. In addition, the transaction eliminated approximately $94 million of annual cash interest expense and simplified AEPB's organizational structure
- Riviera Resources, in its $295 million sale of oil and gas assets and gas processing facilities in the Hugoton Gas Field in Kansas
- Amplify Energy Corp. in an all-stock merger-of-equals with Midstates Petroleum Company, Inc.
- Riviera Resources in the sale of securitized notes backed by a VPP on helium production from the Hugoton Field
- LLOG Bluewater Holdings, LLC in its $1.4 billion sale of Gulf of Mexico assets to Murphy Oil Corp.
- Roxo Energy, a portfolio company of Vortus Investments, in the sale of its interest in oil and gas leases and wells in Howard and Borden Counties, Texas, to Murchison Oil and Gas, LLC
- Newfield Exploration Co. in its approximately $5.5 billion acquisition by Encana Corp. in an all-stock transaction
- COERT Holdings 1 in its successful Section 363 acquisition of the Enduro Royalty Trust assets and interests from Enduro Resource Partners
- Red Rocks Energy Partners, L.P. in the acquisition of certain conventional assets in Oklahoma’s SCOOP play from affiliates of Titanium Exploration Partners, LLC
- Canyon Creek Energy, a portfolio company of Vortus Investments, in the formation of a drilling partnership arrangement with Pivotal Petroleum Partners II, LP to develop wells in the Arkoma STACK play
- Alta Marcellus Development, LLC in the $115 million acquisition of Ultra Petroleum Corp.’s non-operated asset in the Marcellus Shale
- IOG Resources, LLC in the formation of a drilling partnership arrangement with a private oil and gas operator to develop up to 10 wells in the STACK play in Oklahoma
- LINN Energy, Inc. in the following divestures of oil and gas assets: (1) $585.1 million sale of its interest in properties located in the Jonah Field in Wyoming to Jonah Energy LLC; (2) $285 million sale of its interest in properties in the Williston Basin to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Valorem Energy, LLC; (3) $263 million sale of its interest in properties located in the San Joaquin Basin in California to Berry Petroleum Company, LLC; (4) $200 million sale of its interest in properties located in the Washakie Field in Wyoming to Washakie Exaro Opportunities, LLC; (5) $122 million sale of its interest in waterflood properties in Oklahoma and properties in the Texas Panhandle to an undisclosed buyer; (6) $119.5 million sale of its interest in conventional properties located in the Permian Basin, Texas, to an undisclosed buyer; (7) $100 million sale of its interest in properties located in the Brea-Olinda Field in California to Bridge Energy LLC; and (8) $71.5 million sale of its interest in properties located in the Salt Creek Field in Wyoming to Denbury Resources Inc.
- EQT Production Company's $527 million acquisition of Stone Energy Corporation’s Marcellus and Utica Shale assets out of bankruptcy
- Samson Resources Corporation in the following sales of oil and gas assets as part of its ongoing Chapter 11 proceeding in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware: (i) sale of assets located in the Williston Basin to Resource Energy Can-Am LLC for $75 million; (ii) sale of assets located in the San Juan Basin to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, doing business as Red Willow Production Co., for $116 million; (iii) sale of West Anadarko assets to Tecolote Holdings LLC for $131 million; (iv) sale of East Anadarko assets to Rebellion Energy LLC for $152 million; (v) sale of Central Anadarko assets to Fairway Resources Partners III LLC for $132 million; and (vi) sale of mineral interests located in the Permian Basin to Stone Hill Minerals Holdings LLC for $51.7 million
- Blackstone Energy Partners and Sanchez Energy Corporation in their 50/50 partnership, definitive purchase agreement and related financing to acquire Anadarko Petroleum Corporation’s working interest in approximately 318,000 gross operated acres in the Western Eagle Ford for approximately $2.3 billion
- Evercore, as financial advisor to two portfolio companies managed by Kimmeridge Energy Management Co., in a $1.5 billion sale to PDC Energy, Inc.
- Evercore Group LLC as financial advisor to the board of directors of Silver Run Acquisition Corp. in its proposed acquisition of a controlling interest in Centennial Resource Production, LLC
- A major E&P company in a series of five divestitures of producing properties in South and East Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi totaling over $1.2 billion
- A public company in the sale of its Granite Wash assets in Texas and Oklahoma for $588.5 million
- A public E&P company in the acquisition of assets in the Midland Basin for $538 million and the implementation of a horizontal drilling program on the acquired acreage
- A private E&P company in the acquisition of assets in the Eagle Ford Shale for $639 million
- A private E&P company in the acquisition of assets in the Anadarko Basin, Texas and Oklahoma, for $655 million
- A public company in its largest-ever acquisition of oil and gas assets, 42,000 net acres in the STACK play in Oklahoma for $470 million
- A U.S. energy company in the $750 million sale of membership interests in a private equity-backed oil and gas properties in the Eagle Ford Shale
- A public company in the acquisition of assets in the Permian Basin for $300 million
- A public E&P company in the Section 363 sale of all of its oil and gas assets out of bankruptcy for $245 million
- A major oil and gas producer in a joint exploration and development venture covering 100,000 acres in the Eaglebine Formation in Southeast Texas
- A private equity-backed investment entity in a proposed drilling partnership with a private oil company in the Eagle Ford Shale A private equity-backed E&P company in a joint development project in the East Texas Eaglebine play with one of the world’s largest public E&P companies
- A public E&P company in a large farmout and participation project in the Eagle Ford Shale
- A group of farmors in a multi-well farmout of leasehold acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale to a Fortune 100 company
- A publicly traded corporation in the acquisition of membership interests in a company owning leasehold in the Utica Shale for $300 million
- A private equity fund in its debt and equity investment to fund a private E&P company’s acquisition of oil and gas assets in Colorado
- A private equity fund in its acquisition of an equity stake in a drilling partnership to develop unconventional resources in Pennsylvania
- A public company in the sale of escalating wellbore interests to a master limited partnership and documents governing the joint operation of such wellbores
- A public oil and gas company in multiple asset dropdown transactions with its master limited partnership
* Includes matters handled prior to joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Capabilities
Credentials
Education:
- New York University - 2010 Juris Doctor
- University of Texas - Austin - 2007 B.A. Business Administration
- University of Texas - Austin - 2007 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- Texas Bar