Kmetz, Joseph S.

Joseph S. Kmetz

Associate

joseph.kmetz@lw.com
    Kmetz, Joseph S.

    Joseph S. Kmetz

    Associate

    joseph.kmetz@lw.com

    Profile

    Joseph Kmetz is a corporate associate in the Houston office of Latham & Watkins.

    Mr. Kmetz advises clients on transactions in the energy, infrastructure, and technology industries, particularly regarding mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic combinations and relationships, and commercial agreements. He also advises public companies on corporate governance matters and SEC reporting obligations, including with respect to environmental and regulatory considerations.

    Mr. Kmetz has four years of previous business experience within the oil and gas industry. While attending law school, Mr. Kmetz also worked full-time as a Landman for a large oil and gas producer, where he served on the company’s long-term planning team for Colorado, calculated land ownership for SEC reporting, cured oil and gas title defects, and helped modernize the company’s form joint operating agreement for Rocky Mountain assets.

    As a law student, Mr. Kmetz was an associate editor for the Denver Law Review, a peer mentor, and a scholarship recipient of the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law and the Association of International Energy Negotiators.

     

     

     

    Thought Leadership

    • Author, “Arguments for a Balance: Martinez v. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission,” Denver Law Review Online (April 2018)
    • Presenter, “The Martinez Decision,” Denver Association of Petroleum Landmen Fall Land Institute (October 2018)

    Experience

    Mr. Kmetz’ experience includes advising:

    Oil & Gas

    • ConocoPhilips in its pending acquisition of a 30% ownership stake and offtake arrangements with Sempra Infrastructure Partners at Port Arthur LNG Facility
    • Arclight Capital Partners in connection with its investment and partial ownership arrangement in the Salamanca Production Facility in the Offshore Gulf of Mexico
    • Vitol, Inc. in connection with the formation of VTX Energy Partners
    • Woodside in connection with a joint venture with Shell for deepwater Gulf of Mexico exploration and development projects
    • Woodside in connection with a working interest selldown to Occidental Petroleum for certain deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases
    • Lucid Energy in its US$3.55 billion acquisition by Targa Resources Group (environmental emphasis)
    • Pacific Drilling in the pre-arranged chapter 11 restructuring to address over US$1.1 billion of funded debt obligations and other legacy liabilities
    • Nine Point Energy in the US$250 million sale of its Williston Basin assets to Bowline Energy pursuant to Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code
    • Navitas Petroleum in connection with the project development and financing of the Shenandoah Prospect located offshore in the Gulf of Mexico
    • Chisholm Energy, LLC in its multi-well farmout and joint development arrangement with an undisclosed E&P company involving Permian Basin assets

    Energy Transition and Renewables

    • Chevron USA in its joint venture with Bunge North America to create renewable fuel feedstocks in the US
    • Amp Americas in its acquisition of a waste into carbon-negative renewable natural gas and electricity assets from Vitol
    • Harley-Davidson in connection with LiveWire’s US$1.77 billion deSPAC merger with AEA-Bridges Impact Corp. (environmental emphasis)
    • Initial purchasers in the upsized US$550 million offering of green bonds by Renewable Energy Group
    • Underwriters in the upsized public offering of common stock for Renewable Energy Group

    Technology

    • Khosla Ventures Acquisition Co. II in its US$4.3 billion deSPAC merger with Nextdoor, Inc.
    • Aeva, Inc. in its US$1.7 billion deSPAC merger with InterPrivate Acquisition Corp
    • SparkCognition in its acquisition of AIM2, a financial technology company
    • Matterport, Inc. in its acquisition of Enview, Inc., a pioneer in scalable artificial intelligence for 3D spatial data

    Qualifications

    Bar Qualification

    • Texas

    Education

    • JD, University of Denver Sturm College of Law, 2019
      Order of the Coif
    • BBA, Texas Tech University, 2015
      Summa Cum Laude

    Languages Spoken

    • English

    Practices

    Industries

    News & Insights

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