M&Z has deep, long-standing experience across the power and energy sector, advising local and foreign companies engaged in energy generation, transmission and distribution.

When the Government of Pakistan first opened the power sector to private investment in 1985 — the reforms that introduced Pakistan’s successive power policies and established the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) — M&Z was already there. We are the only law firm in Pakistan to have represented both power projects and their sponsors under every one of those policies: the 1994 Power Policy, the 1995 Hydel and Transmission Line Policies, the 1998 and 2002 Power Policies, and the Policy for the Development of Renewable Energy for Power Generation.

We were exclusive legal counsel on the Mangla Dam and Tarbela Dam projects and advised on most of the projects developed under the 1994 Private Power Policy, leading the detailed negotiations with PPIB, WAPDA and KESC on the principal project agreements — the Implementation Agreement, Power Purchase Agreement and Fuel/Gas Supply Agreement. The standard documents used in power projects today grew out of those negotiations.

Our current work spans three hydro projects in northern Pakistan, including the 840 MW SK Hydro Project, as well as wind-power mandates in Sindh, and extends to oil and gas: we have advised Pakistan State Oil and Pakistan Petroleum on regulatory issues and disputes, Petrobras (Petróleo Brasileiro) on Pakistan’s oil-and-gas framework, and Pyramid Gas (Private) Limited on gas-distribution laws. We have also defended Independent Power Producers — including Liberty Power and Southern Electric — against the cancellation of their agreements by the Government, WAPDA and KESC, and acted for WAPDA in arbitration over the payment of Net Hydel Profits.

• Karachi Electric Supply Corporation — transaction counsel on the US$ 275 million and PKR 12 billion project-finance facility (Asian Development Bank, IFC and local lenders) for Phase I of KESC’s expansion.
• DHA Cogen Limited — transaction counsel on Pakistan’s first combined power-generation (~94 MW) and desalination (3 MGD) facility in Karachi, a public-private partnership with the Defence Housing Authority.
• Harbin Power Engineering Company Limited — represented the Chinese state-owned contractor on a 560 MW combined-cycle plant in Karachi.
• Wartsila (Finland) — adviser since 1993 on debt and equity investments across Pakistan, including lead counsel on Tapal Energy (126 MW) and the Gul Ahmed and Kohinoor projects.
• Attock Gen Limited — local counsel to Wartsila on the equipment-supply and construction contracts for a 156 MW combined-cycle plant at Morgah, Rawalpindi.
• Nishat Chunian Power and Nishat Power — local counsel to Wartsila on two ~200 MW combined-cycle plants at Jambar Kalan, District Kasur.
• Rupali Power — transaction counsel on all governmental approvals and the power-purchase, implementation, EPC and financing documents, and on its acquisition of the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company.
• Zorlu Enerji — local counsel on a 50 MW wind-power plant in Sindh.
• Beacon Energy — project counsel to the sponsors of a Sindh wind-power plant; negotiated the energy-purchase agreement with NTDC and the AEDB.
• Energy Saving Solutions — counsel to the lenders financing a ~47.76 MW gas-fired combined-cycle plant at Dhabeji, Sindh.
• Orient Power and Sapphire Power Generation — local counsel to DEG on its equity investments.
• Siemens (Pakistan) Engineering — acted for Siemens Pakistan and Siemens A.G. on the privatisation of KESC, including full due diligence and operation-and-management arrangements.
• Power-project acquisition and revival — represented foreign buyers acquiring and reviving a 180 MW power project, including due diligence and negotiations with NTDC and PPIB.
• Mari Petroleum and Sitara Petroleum — oil, gas and energy matters.