“I trust in Damon’s understanding of each and every component of originating, negotiating and closing the deal. I can rely on him to properly assess the risks and address what is necessary in order to bring a deal across the line. We highly recommend him as a trusted advisor in this area of law.”Major energy trading company
Damon Thompson is a partner with our firm whose practice focuses on shipping, energy and commodities trading. He has been practising maritime, trading and commercial law in London for 20 years.
Before joining Floyd Zadkovich, Damon spent over 7 years at a major gas and energy trading company, where he worked with the global trading, shipping and operations teams in respect of all energy commodities and in particular LNG. Prior to this in-house role, Damon trained and worked at two leading London maritime and trading law firms on complex and high-value energy, shipping, logistics and commercial matters.
Damon advises clients on both contentious and non-contentious issues. He drafts all types of contracts in his focus sectors, including SPAs, Charterparties and Terminal Use Agreements and advises on all types of disputes and issues that might arise under such contracts. He enjoys close relations with his clients and particularly likes to become involved in live issues at an early stage and to guide his clients in finding solutions under the time pressure of physical trading.
Damon regularly provides presentations and training programmes to clients on shipping and trading issues, particularly in the LNG sector.
Damon’s native language is English and he has good working knowledge of French.
Highlights of Damon’s work include the following:
Representation of Asian governmental energy entity in Coronavirus related advice reagrding current portfolio of charter parties.
Representation of major international LNG supplier in Coronavirus related advice on Indian customs regulations regarding presence of armed guards and piracy prevention personnel, off hire and risk assessment.
Representation of major international LNG supplier in negotiations of several charter parties with Indian oil corporation.
Advised major LNG chartering company on midterm charter parties with multinational oil trading company.
Representation of major Central European Energy Company in relation to a failure to load at a North African LNG terminal. The issue was successfully resolved with the client being “kept whole” and the terms of loading and delivery of the cargo re-negotiated.
Representation of major Danish shipowner in an off-hire and performance dispute which threw to both US and English jurisdictions.
Representation of global energy major in an LMAA arbitration in a long-term charterparty dispute for a LNG carrier.
Representation of European ro-ro operator and logistics services provider in relation to a multi-jurisdictional dispute arising from container damage at the Port of Cork, UK.
Preparation of bespoke template charterparty documents for vessel owners in the LNG industry. Advising on the terms of ShellLNGTime 1 and ShellLNGTime 2 to provide a comprehensive template/standard form document at an appropriate risk level for clients.
Representation of major international LNG supplier and charterer on their position in respect of a multi-million dollar off-hire claim. The dispute turned on bespoke off-hire wording and complex legal questions in LCIA arbitration.
Interested in specific aspects of Damon’s recent work? Contact [email protected] for further reference cases.
Professional Experience
Education
Guide to FuelEU Maritime
Cheyne & Thomspon (lecturers), “The LNG Industry and Evolution of LNG Charters from Tanker Charters”, FZ Presentation, 27.02.2020
Thompson, Lerch & Trout, “Coronavirus and Force Majeure” FZ Update, 12.02.2020
Event: LNG Shipping & Terminals Conference 2024
Attendees: Damon Thompson
Date: 12 – 13 November 2024
Venue: London
Damon Thompson will be on stage speaking at the LNG Shipping & Terminals Conference on the 12th – 13th November.
Tuesday 12th November:
10:10am – 11:00am [Leaders’ Panel]
4:10pm – 4:45pm [Roundtable Discussion hosted by Damon Thompson]
6:00pm onwards: Drinks / Dinner
Wednesday 13th November:
2:35pm – 2:45pm: [Lightening Talk by Damon Thompson]
Please get in touch below if you are at the event and interested in meeting.
On 23 August 2024, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced sanctions against seven LNG carriers reportedly comprising a new Russian shadow fleet, designating them as US specially designated nationals (“SDNs”).[1] According to satellite imagery and ship tracking data, at least three of these ships are confirmed to have loaded LNG at Novatek’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 facility. The other four ships have been used to deliver volumes from non-sanctioned Yamal LNG, but were originally intended for use with Arctic LNG 2.
On 24 June 2024, the European union introduced its 14th package of sanctions against Russia. The package contains a large number of new restrictive measures, targeting a range of different sectors of the Russian economy. However, of crucial importance to the LNG market are the new EU sanctions concerning transhipment and import of LNG.
We had a remarkable time at our New York client event last week!
Our team comprising LNG expert Damon Thompson along with Zach Barger from the US office team and Andriy Shalennyy is proud to have supported EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG in its recent negotiations with Venture Global LNG in relation to two Sales and Purchase Agreements for 1.5 MTPA of LNG from Venture Global’s Plaquemines and CP2 facilities.
Pressure on European leaders to do more to sanction Russian energy is increasing by the hour – including calls to pull out of Russian gas.
This is our second update to keep our clients informed as we monitor the rapidly changing security situation in Ukraine. As described in our earlier sanctions circular, we believe we are uniquely placed to assist our clients in this current fast-moving situation with our teams of international lawyers based in USA, UK and EU. We have experience and expertise to assist all our clients’ requirements.
This update is the first of several which ZFZ will produce to keep our clients informed as we monitor the rapidly changing security situation in Ukraine. We believe we are uniquely placed to assist our clients in this current fast-moving situation. Support is likely to be needed in a variety of contexts, for example advice as to whether a client is captured by the sanctions or whether a contract with a Russian counterparty can be performed and support on opportunities and projects that arise in relation to alternative energy sources because of the sanctions on Russian energy providers. We have the experience and expertise to assist all our client’s requirements.
