Norton Rose has outlined its ambitions to dominate the Indonesian energy market with the lateral hire of ex-BP UK gas & power senior legal counselAshley Wright.
Wright, who is currently an energy partner with Ashurst in Singapore will lead Norton Rose’s Asia-Pacific oil & gas team in the new year.
A specialist in energy and project finance, Wright spent three years in Indonesia seconded to BP as a legal manager and has lived in Asia for a total of 13 years – first arriving in Indonesia in 1995 and returning to the UK in 2000. While in Asia, he spent a year with Norton Rose in Bulgaria working on two power projects and following that took up an appointment with Linklaters in Singapore for four years. Following this, Wright spent four years with Milbank in Singapore and worked the next four years with Ashurst.
“Indonesia is a very important jurisdiction for me and it should be for every Singapore-based international law firm. It is the largest economy in Southeast Asia by a mile and a great energy province in oil & gas, LNG petrochemicals and power,” Wright said. “The trade flows for energy, LNG particularly from Australia and Indonesia to America, Japan and Korea are global – so a decent energy practice has to think along global lines as well.”
Recent significant transactions include representing a bidder in an offshore West African block with a bid value of between US$3-4bn. The deal is still in discussion and further details are restricted from publication.
