Hani A. Rasoul

Hani A. Rasoul, the founder and managing partner of Brightiom Law, brings over 20 years of legal expertise to the oil and gas industry. Licensed to practice in Egypt and registered as Foreign Legal Counsel in Texas (not licensed to practice in Texas), Hani has cultivated a diverse range of experience in oil & gas, debt and asset finance, maritime, and corporate laws. Before establishing Brightiom Consulting LLC in California in 2019 and subsequently founding Brightiom Law PLLC in Texas in 2021, Hani held various in-house counsel roles with leading multinational oil and gas companies including Schlumberger (www.slb.com), Transocean (www.deepwater.com), and Shelf Drilling (www.shelfdrilling.com). During his tenure, he specialized in navigating the legal complexities of oil and gas service contracts, mastering the intricacies of offshore drilling agreements.

Hani's leadership was instrumental in negotiating numerous high-stakes offshore drilling contracts on behalf of Transocean and Shelf Drilling, overseeing crucial aspects such as performance, indemnities, and termination clauses. His adept management of legal challenges led to the successful resolution of significant arbitration cases, resulting in out-of-court settlements totaling $67M for Transocean and $15M for Shelf Drilling, respectively.

In recognition of his expertise, Hani was invited to conduct a training workshop on offshore drilling contracts for ADES (https://adesgroup.com) in 2022. He also authored the inaugural version of the oil and gas contract playbook for Nesr Company (https://www.nesr.com), further solidifying his reputation as a trusted authority in the field.

Upon joining Shelf Drilling in December 2012 as a transferee from Transocean following the completion of the purchase of 38 jackup rigs by Shelf Drilling, Hani assumed the pivotal role of Associate General Counsel. In this capacity, he played a critical role in the company's strategic initiatives and legal compliance efforts. During his tenure, Hani spearheaded the development of unique in-house expertise in debt finance. Notably, he created and implemented a robust debt covenant compliance system, which proved instrumental in facilitating the company's pursuit of its ambitious business growth plan while ensuring strict adherence to the various debt covenants. This included overseeing compliance with significant financial obligations such as the $310M Midco Term Loan, $475M Senior Secured Notes, and $75M Term Loan. Hani subsequently led successful negotiations of the $200M revolving credit facility by HSBC and RBC in 2014 allowing the company to pay off its debt obligations and pursue its growth plans. 

As the company expanded its business growth, Hani played a pivotal role in leading negotiations for the $360M new build contracts of Shelf Drilling Chaophraya and Shelf Drilling Krathong with Lamprell UAE. Additionally, his development of a sophisticated debt covenant compliance system proved invaluable in securing additional financing for the new build rigs. Leveraging this system, Hani created an innovative unrestricted subsidiary structure, which played a crucial role in securing $330M Asset-Sale-Leaseback Financing from ICBC in 2015, showcasing his strategic prowess and financial acumen. In 2017, he further demonstrated his leadership by successfully negotiating a $75M senior secured term loan and guarantee facility agreement with ING and DNB Banks, showcasing his continued ability to navigate complex legal issues in financial transactions and secure critical funding for the company's growth initiatives. Hani also made significant contributions to various financial transactions, including a $502.8M debt-for-debt exchange offer in January 2017, $900M in notes offerings in February and June 2018, and a $225M corporate revolver arranged by RBC Europe Limited and ING Bank N.V. in June 2018. He served as the acting Egyptian counsel of the Issuer in relation to the $310 million notes offering in March 2021.

In June 2018, Hani relocated to the Bay Area, California, to pursue his personal passion for artificial intelligence and machine learning. Collaborating with two highly experienced data scientists, he designed two prototypes, "Bid Alpha" and "Cov Alpha," aimed at automating the risk assessment and review of certain oil and gas contracts and debt financing documents. These prototypes have since been refined to leverage breakthroughs in Large Language Models (LLMs) under the initiative of Brightiom LegAlitIcs. During this time, Hani continued to act as independent counsel for Shelf Drilling and Transocean.

Expanding on his expertise in oil and gas and debt financing, Hani also managed maritime law aspects related to the $375M financing and acquisition of 5 jackup rigs by Shelf Drilling from Noble Corp. He led various rig acquisitions and sales, including the successful acquisition of the $77.6M jackup rig Shelf Drilling Journey by ADNOC Drilling in 2020 and the acquisition of the $30M jackup rig Shelf Drilling Victory (formerly known as Deep Driller 7) from Aban Offshore in 2022.

More recently, Hani handled maritime law aspects related to the 31-rig collateral package for the $1.295B financing secured by Shelf Drilling in December 2023 and April 2024. He continues to serve as the acting Egyptian Counsel of the Issuer in relation to this financing. He also played an instrumental role in the legal support for the successful finalization of Total Framework Agreement between Shelf Drilling and Total Energies leading to the successful signing of $54M drilling contract to Shelf Drilling in UK in April 2024.  Among his most recent achievements is the successful closing of the complex $60M sale of the rig Baltic, based in Nigeria, to the Malaysian Group T7, which will operate the rig under a drilling contract for Petronas https://www.shelfdrilling.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Shelf-Drilling-Announces-Closing-of-the-Sale-of-the-Baltic-Rig-vF.pdf.