Making the Deal Happen:

Overview

Energy companies operating in emerging markets often succeed or fail not on the strength of their contract terms, but on the strength of their relationships with the host governments and ministries they negotiate with. This webinar brings together three lawyers with deep, hands-on experience negotiating opposite host governments across multiple jurisdictions to share the war stories, missteps, and hard-won lessons that shaped how they now approach these deals. The conversation will focus on practical cultural intelligence: how to read the room, build trust, avoid common missteps, and shift from an adversarial posture to one of genuine partnership, so that in-house counsel and outside advisers can better represent their clients and build agreements that hold up over time. Attendees will leave with concrete, actionable advice for their next cross-border negotiation.

Registration Options

• $50 - Non-Member
• $0 - IEL Member
• $0 - IEL Supporting or Sustaining Member Employee
• $0 - Law Student

Speakers

Christian Castro Nunez
Moderator
Managing Counsel, Exploration and Commercial
Chevron
Houston, TX

Christian is a Managing Counsel at Chevron, based in Houston, where he leads the Exploration & Commercial Law department. His team of lawyers, located in hubs across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia supports the company’s exploration and emerging-countries portfolio worldwide. The team advises new-country entries, frontier exploration through bid rounds and farm-ins, infrastructure-enabled exploration within producing fields and mature assets, and other complex upstream transactions.

Christian joined Chevron in 2011 as Legal Counsel in Angola. From 2019 to 2025, he served as Managing Counsel for Chevron’s Southern Africa Strategic Business Unit in Luanda, leading a team of attorneys that advised the business in Angola and the Republic of Congo. He hold a law degree from Catholic University of Argentina and an LLM in Oil and Gas Law from Agostinho Neto University in Angola.

Fernando Avila-Bavaresco
Panelist
Managing Counsel Middle East, Africa & Other International
ConocoPhillips
Houston, TX

Fernando Avila-Bavaresco is Managing Counsel for Middle East, Africa, Latin America and International Acquisitions & Divestitures at ConocoPhillips. He has more than 30 years of legal experience in the international energy sector, including over two decades with ConocoPhillips, advising on complex cross-border oil and gas projects, acquisitions and divestitures, new-country entry, joint ventures, project development, regulatory matters and government negotiations. He has also been part of the team advising on major international disputes involving sovereign states and state-owned entities. Fernando holds an LL.M. in International Banking Law from Boston University and a law degree from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, where he graduated sixth in his class.

Josina Carvalho
Panelist
Senior Counsel, Exploration & Commercial
Chevron
Luanda, Angola

Josina Carvalho serves as Senior Counsel at Chevron. She has more than two decades of legal experience, including 20 years with Chevron, advising on cross-border transactions, host government negotiations, joint ventures, and business development opportunities across emerging markets. Her recent work has focused on strategic exploration opportunities in West Africa, particularly in Angola, Namibia, and Guinea-Bissau, while her broader experience includes LNG and gas commercialization initiatives, cross-border unitization and infrastructure projects across Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Josina earned her law degree from the Portuguese Catholic University in Lisbon and pursued further legal studies at the Agostinho Neto University, where she obtained an LL.M. in Oil & Gas Law. She is admitted to Portuguese and Angola Bar Associations.

Tope Fadeyibi
Panelist
Senior Counsel
Chevron
Houston, TX

Tope Fadeyibi is a Senior Counsel at Chevron, based in Lagos. He advises on exploration, commercial negotiations and complex energy projects and transactions. With extensive experience across upstream and midstream operations, his practice includes joint ventures, farm-ins, acquisitions, petroleum operations, dispute resolution, asset retirement, midstream transactions and regulatory matters.

MCLE Credit

Although attendees may be able to request MCLE credit directly in additional jurisdictions, the rules vary in each jurisdiction. Certain programs, subjects, and formats may not receive credit in certain jurisdictions and there may be specific rules regarding who may earn credit or the maximum number of credit hours that may be earned with specific formats. Please review the MCLE regulations and rules of your jurisdiction and contact your regulatory entity if you have specific questions about the jurisdiction’s MCLE rules.

Other Information

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