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Jude LeBlanc

Jude N. Leblanc Partner

Houston T +1 832 255 6325 F fax +1 832 255 6375
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Jude Leblanc has more than 25 years of experience structuring, drafting and negotiating complex commercial transactions in the energy and power sectors both domestically and internationally. Jude’s experience includes project development contracts (engineering, procurement and construction – EPC) for major industrial, energy, power and data center facilities and related infrastructure projects; large-scale equipment purchase agreements; project & corporate finance and M&A deals; and joint venture and consortium agreements. He has worked on a wide range of projects in the renewable energy (battery storage, solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, renewable natural gas and hydrogen), gas-fired power, nuclear power, data center, mining, oil & gas, petrochemical, chemical, carbon capture and telecommunications industries in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

In addition to structuring transactions and leading negotiations for numerous multi-billion dollar EPC contracts, Jude has extensive experience negotiating large capital supply agreements in the U.S. offshore wind industry with several European suppliers and contractors, power industry (gas turbines) with vendors such as General Electric (GE) and Mitsubishi, nuclear equipment procurements and development agreements with Westinghouse, GE-Hitachi and Toshiba, and petrochemical and oil & gas equipment procurements and technology development agreements with Air Liquide and Air Products, among others. For instance, he negotiated contracts for the development and construction of several power projects with a large domestic utility, which contracts had an aggregate value in excess of over $10 billion. Recently, he also negotiated contracts for the development and construction of two methanol plants with an aggregate value close to $5 billion. Another example of the type of sophisticated projects Jude has led include the structuring and negotiation of collaboration and joint development agreements with several partners and investors for the first NRC-approved small modular nuclear reactor technology and the negotiation of partnering agreements with its first commercial customer.

Jude’s practice has a geographical focus in North America and Latin America, and he has negotiated well over a dozen major transactions in Mexico, as well as deals in all but one South American nation. In addition to large transactions in Colombia and Chile, he has negotiated over 10 major transactions in Argentina and over 6 major transactions in Brazil, including the formation of a joint venture to create a Brazilian engineering and construction company.

Experience

Below are just a few transactions that further demonstrate the breadth of Jude’s practice:

  • Representing an independent power producer in the drafting and negotiation of an EPC contracts for substations and switchyards connecting nuclear power generation facilities with data centers.
  • Represented a utility client in the drafting, administration of RFP process and negotiation of innovative Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) Agreements for the development, construction, operation and transfer of three battery storage projects (79 MW, 50 MW and 50 MW, respectively) in Long Island, NY.
  • Represented an American utility in the development of RFPs, evaluation of bids and drafting and negotiation of EPC contracts for six battery energy storage facilities in Virginia totaling 230 MW.
  • Represented an American utility in the development of RFPs, evaluation of bids and drafting and negotiation of EPC contracts and turbine supply agreements for two natural gas-fired generating facilities in South Carolina (78 MW and 50 MW).
  • Draft and negotiate EPC Contracts, ESS Supply Agreements, ESS Long-Term Services Agreements and O&M Agreements for three utility-scale battery storage facilities in Texas (545 MW) for a developer client.
  • Structured and negotiated EPC and supply contracts for the development of a 2,600 MW utility scale offshore wind project (Virginia Beach, Virginia).
  • Structured and negotiated construction contracts for the construction of the V.C. Summer (SCANA/Santee Cooper) nuclear power plant in South Carolina (project cost of $9 billion) and the Vogtle (Southern Company/Georgia Power) nuclear power plant in Georgia (project cost $25 billion).
  • Negotiated terms of a master services agreement for engineering and construction services for a major lithium producer’s lithium processing plants worldwide (Chile, Australia, Argentina and China).
  • Negotiated terms of an engineering and construction agreement for the new PEMEX Dos Bocas refinery in Mexico, which project has a project cost in excess of $8 billion.
  • Negotiating terms of supply agreements for a multi-billion dollar offshore wind project off the East Coast of the United States.
  • Negotiated an engineering and construction agreement for a large renewable energy developer’s 250 MW Genesis Concentrated Solar Parabolic Power Project in Riverside County, California.
  • Negotiated a master services agreement for engineering and project management services with major international oil company for its capital projects in Alaska.
  • Jude spent his nearly 25-year legal career as a partner in private practice and also as a vice president in the law department of a Fortune 150 engineering and construction company, where in each new project, he personally structured and negotiated numerous complex commercial transactions for his clients.

Events

Insights

  • Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, Construction Law, 2024, 2025, 2026

Spotlight

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