Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Capabilities
  3. Construction & Engineering

Construction & Engineering

Construction & Engineering Background Decorative Image

The complexity, scale, and range of the construction and engineering matters that Vinson & Elkins handles is what distinguishes our dedicated Construction & Engineering team from other law firms. In recent years, we have worked on the construction and engineering aspects of some of the world’s most dynamic and challenging high-profile projects, including the $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion program, some of the world’s largest aluminum smelters and desalination plants, major off shore oil and gas developments, power and petrochemical plants, and rail projects. Our Construction lawyers include leading international arbitration practitioners, as well as EPC and FIDIC knowledge leaders. They are particularly well known and highly regarded for handling engineering disputes in relation to large on- and offshore energy projects.

The Legal 500 US: Real Estate – Construction: Including Construction Litigation, 2018-2024

Construction Industry Experience & Leadership

Our legal knowledge and experience are not limited to one side of the industry; rather, our lawyers have the broad perspectives and experience that come from advising all project participants. Our lawyers have represented project owners and developers, EPC and EPCM contractors, architects and engineers, major equipment suppliers, insurers, and subcontractors and governments. V&E has experience working on projects, including chemical, petrochemical, and other manufacturing and processing plants; onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities; FPSOs; refineries; desalination plants; pipelines; nuclear and fossil fuel plants; commercial projects; rail and marine infrastructure; multi-unit and single residential projects; and municipal enterprises, such as convention centers and roads.

We advise on the construction aspects of the whole life cycle of major projects, from procurement strategy, tender processes, and contract drafting and negotiation, to roles as project counsel when design and construction works are being implemented. When disputes become unavoidable, our lawyers have a truly outstanding track record of success, whether in international arbitration, litigation, before DABs and DRBs or in mediation and conciliation, and other forms of ADR.

Experience Highlights

  • Eurochem in the construction, development and $1 billion financing of 2,700 metric-tons-per-day Baltic ammonia plant located in Kingisepp, Russia 

  • Noble Energy, Inc. as project counsel in the development of the Leviathan natural gas field in offshore Israel, including the development, construction and financing of a 2.1 Bcf/d natural gas production platform and associated subsea and tie-back facilities

  • Texas Central Partners as project counsel in the development of a high speed rail project between Houston and Dallas

  • Gulf Coast Ammonia as project counsel in the development and financing of a world-scale ammonia project in Texas 

  • BG Group in the development of a multitrain, multibillion dollar LNG project in Lake Charles, Louisiana, including involvement in the feedstock, off-take, and other project-related agreements

  • Acting on a number of ICC arbitrations in connection with the design and construction of a major maritime project in Central America

  • ChevronPhillips Chemical Company LLC on the development and financing of more than $1 billion petrochemical derivatives facilities in Saudi Arabia, including work on the related EPC contracts

  • Emirates Aluminium Company in connection with its construction, procurement, and technology arrangements for its 1.3 million tonnes per year aluminium smelter at Taweelah in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with a transaction value of approximately $6.4 billion

  • Dyno Nobel Inc. in the development of an $850 million anhydrous ammonia plant in Louisiana, including project development arrangements, real estate and environmental matters, and negotiation of CO2 and ammonia offtake agreements

  • STAR Rafineri A.Ş. a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and its sponsors on the development and financing of a $6.3 billion greenfield oil refinery in Turkey on the Aegean Sea. This is the largest project financing in Turkey and involves the largest and most diverse group of ECAs for any multi-source financing in Turkey to date. The STAR project sets new benchmarks for project financings in Turkey in terms of amount and tenor of facilities. The Project won 10 awards including Infrastructure Journal’s “European Oil and Gas Deal of the Year 2014”

  • A joint venture among Korean Gas Corp (KOGAS), Lotte Chemical, STX Energy and Uzbekneftegas, on the development and the Asian Development Bank, KEXIM and KSure led financing of the approximately $3.9 billion Surgil upstream gas and petrochemicals project, Project Finance International’s “Petrochemical Deal of the Year 2012”, Infrastructure Journal’s “Oil and Gas Deal of the Year 2013”, The American Lawyer’s “Global Finance Deal of the Year: Project Finance (Asia) 2014” and the largest project financing in Central Asia

Related People

View All Related People

Related Insights

View More