Advisory and engineering across the full hydrocarbon value chain — from exploration and concession origination through refining, petrochemicals, and product commercialisation. Backed by one of Russia’s most technically credentialed downstream engineering teams, with 200+ projects across four continents and proprietary process technology proven at commercial scale.
The Oil & Gas practice covers the hydrocarbon chain from reservoir to refinery gate and beyond — upstream exploration and field development, midstream transport and processing, downstream refining and product preparation, and the petrochemicals and specialty-materials chains that branch from it. Advisory and engineering capability are held in the same practice, not separated between different firms.
Concession and licensing strategy, exploration campaign design, reserves assessment, field-development planning, production optimisation, and artificial-lift engineering for onshore fields. Mature-field revitalisation — reservoir engineering, production optimisation, surface facility revamp, and commercial restructuring. Geological interpretation, drill-target definition, and partner mapping across CIS, Caspian, North Africa, and Latin America.
Pipelines, gathering systems, processing and treatment plants, storage and tank farms, LNG liquefaction and regasification, NGL fractionation, gas-to-power, terminal-to-pipeline interconnects. Cross-border transit structuring, host-government interface, tariff and capacity strategy. Marine terminal design and SPM systems through the Marine desk.
Refinery feasibility studies, process configuration screening, FEED, product-slate and yield optimisation, hydroprocessing and conversion units (CDU, VDU, FCC, hydrocracker, coker, hydrotreater, isomerisation), debottlenecking, and full EPC delivery. Proprietary Zeoforming® gasoline technology (ZSM-5 / KN-30 zeolite catalyst) replacing conventional multi-unit reforming complexes with a single compact reactor at 92–96 RON. In partnership with Energy & Engineering LLC.
Steam crackers, polyolefins, MEG/PET, aromatics complexes, methanol, urea and ammonia, fertiliser chains, specialty and performance chemicals. Process licensor evaluation and selection across Honeywell UOP, Axens, KBR, Topsoe, Lummus, Shell Global Solutions, and the Russian-origin technology stack. Procurement, off-take and partnership structuring for full-chain petrochemical projects.
Penetration- and viscosity-grade bitumen, cut-back, polymer-modified bitumen (PMB), bitumen emulsions, cold-mix, and full pavement chemistry to AASHTO / ASTM / EN / JTJ. Turnkey terminals, refinery emulsion units, and PMB plants through the DENIMOTECH legacy. Fuel emulsions — low-emission heavy-fuel emulsion technology including the MSAR precedent delivered across the CIS, Poland, Romania, and Vietnam.
End-to-end EPC delivery and owner’s-engineer / PMC mandates from concept through commissioning. Lender-grade tendering, EPC contract drafting and dispute management, schedule and cost control, interface management between owner, EPC contractor, licensor, and lender. The discipline the founder has been running personally for three decades, backed by Energy & Engineering LLC’s in-house process engineering depth.
The advisory practice covers every stage of the petroleum value chain where a principal needs independent commercial, strategic, or legal counsel — asset transactions, corporate restructuring, concession origination, crude and product marketing strategy, lender positioning, and the full architecture of joint-venture and off-take agreements. The founder has led mandates of this kind personally across more than 150 jurisdictions. The advisory function is independent of any licensor, EPC contractor, or financial institution.
Buy- and sell-side advisory on upstream asset acquisitions, farm-in and farm-out transactions, block and licence trades, and producing-field disposals. Full commercial due diligence, reserve audit co-ordination, pricing and transaction structuring, SPA drafting interface, and board-level sign-off support. Particular depth in CIS, Caspian, North Africa, and West Africa.
Strategy and counsel for concession bids, exploration licence rounds, and production-sharing agreement negotiations. Host-government interface, local-content design, fiscal-term modelling (royalty, PSA, risk-service contract), and the legal and commercial positioning that determines whether a licence converts into a bankable project.
Strategic restructuring for oil and gas companies navigating asset disposals, shareholder changes, operating-cost reduction, sanctions exposure, or the debt workouts and recapitalisations that follow price-cycle reversals. The house has led some of the most complex corporate restructurings in the Nordic and CIS energy sector.
Crude-marketing structure design for independent producers and NOCs: term vs. spot ratio, trader counterparty selection, price-formula construction, crude-quality bank design, and volume-optimisation across pipeline, tanker, and barge logistics. Products marketing strategy for refiners: product-slate optimisation, off-take agreement architecture, blending strategy, and distribution channel design to maximise netback.
Commercial structuring and drafting-interface for long-form off-take agreements, tolling and processing contracts, product-lifting arrangements, and minimum-throughput obligations. Pricing, quality, scheduling, force majeure and termination mechanics designed to be bankable and operable. Particular experience in refinery tolling and emulsion-fuel off-take structures.
Advisory on the commercial, technical, and legal posture required to pass lender and equity-investor due diligence at tier-one commercial banks, ECAs, and development-finance institutions. Bankability reviews, independent-expert mandates, reserve-based lending input, and the project-finance structures that underpin major upstream and refining investments. Co-ordinated with the Capital desk for debt and equity origination.
The Oil & Gas practice operates in direct partnership with Energy & Engineering LLC — a Russian downstream and upstream engineering company formed by Dr. Raushan Telyashev, former General Director of Russia’s All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Refining, with core backing from the UFA Petroleum Institute’s technology farm. The team has been involved in some of the largest Russian refinery and oil-field projects of the modern period, inside and outside Russia, and holds a portfolio of commercially proven proprietary process technologies developed over 30 years in partnership with the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis and the Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis.
The partnership divides clearly: Energy & Engineering LLC carries the proprietary process IP, the chartered process engineers (Doctors and PhDs of Technical Sciences with 200+ publications), and in-country execution across 15+ countries on four continents. Jakob Schmidt & Sons carries the commercial structuring, lender interface, international counterparty relationships, legal and financial architecture, and sovereign access. Together the combination covers the full spectrum from exploration concept to refinery operations and product commercialisation.
Energy & Engineering LLC holds an exclusive portfolio of refinery and petrochemical process technologies developed over three decades by Russia’s leading research institutes, with five commercial installations and 2 million tonnes of cumulative production. Unlike vendor licensors, the technology is deployed in service of the project owner’s economics, not the licensor’s royalty stream.
Zeolite-catalysed (ZSM-5 / KN-30) process that converts low-octane straight-run naphtha into 92–96 RON gasoline in a single reactor unit. Operates at low pressure (0.5–2.0 MPa) without hydrogen. Replaces the conventional six-unit reforming chain at a fraction of the capital and operating cost. Five commercial installations; 2 million tonnes produced since 1992.
Proprietary modified Claus process for H²S-to-elemental-sulfur conversion. Compact modular design with low CAPEX, low OPEX, and high recovery efficiency. Suitable for refineries processing high-sulfur crudes where conventional Claus units are oversized or unavailable.
Proprietary process for on-site removal of H²S and mercaptans from crude oil and condensate, enabling sour-crude processing without full amine-unit infrastructure. Applied to field-level and refinery-level sweetening programmes.
On-line furnace-tube cleaning without plant shutdown. Proprietary chemical formulation recovers lost CDU capacity and reduces fuel consumption. Proven at Baghdad Daura Refinery — restored 70,000 BpD of capacity in a live operational environment.
Proprietary KN-30 zeolite catalyst with 3–6 month regeneration cycles and a full specialty-chemical additive line for refinery process optimisation, fuel-quality improvement, and octane enhancement. Supplied as discrete products or as part of Zeoforming® licensing.
Compact modular refinery concept combining CDU, Zeoforming® gasoline unit, and optional VDU / hydrotreater in containerised modules scalable from 1,000 to 10,000 BpD. Designed for remote-area deployment, landlocked markets, and sovereign fuel-security programmes where conventional greenfield refineries are not commercially viable.
Every mandate produces a defined set of work-products. Each is sized and scoped to the file, but the discipline is constant: lender-grade, owner-grade, defensible under audit.
Lender-grade feasibility studies from concept through pre-FID, including CAPEX and OPEX benchmarking, process configuration screening, technology selection, and integrated financial modelling. AACE Class IV and Class III accuracy.
Technological audits, equipment inspection, Pinch analysis for heat integration, and efficiency improvement programmes delivering measurable OPEX savings. Delivered as standalone engagements or as pre-investment diligence.
Investment feasibility, CAPEX and OPEX assessment, economic efficiency analysis, and product-slate optimisation for refinery investment decisions. Designed to be read by lenders and investment committees without rework.
Strategic partner identification — technical, commercial, financial — with structured introductions, joint-venture term-sheets, governance design, and shareholder-agreement architecture for O&G projects.
Independent technical and commercial due diligence on acquisitions, refinery rehabilitation targets, and concession bids. Sized for tier-one lender and board consumption.
Process flow diagrams, heat and material balances, equipment sizing, utility studies, process simulation, and basic engineering packages for new-build and revamp projects. Full EPC and FEED supervision available through the EE LLC partnership.
Environmental permitting, host-government licensing, local-content compliance, and regulatory route-to-market across CIS, Middle East, Africa, and Asia — including Iraqi MoO / MoEW, Russian Rostekhnadzor, and international IFC / EBRD environmental frameworks.
Off-take strategy, product certification, quality optimisation, trading-desk interface, and the export logistics chain from refinery gate to international market for refined products, petrochemicals, and specialty chemicals.
The projects below represent a subset of the 200+ engagements delivered by Energy & Engineering LLC and the founder’s own advisory practice. Full project credentials and references are released through the gated Deal Room to verified counterparties.
CDU efficiency recovery programme using proprietary EE 1215 fireside coil-cleaning technology. Restored 70,000 BpD of processing capacity in a live operational environment without plant shutdown.
Reconstruction of reformer unit into isomerisation plus new Zeoforming® gasoline unit. Full EPC delivery from basic engineering through startup and commissioning.
Comprehensive feasibility, CAPEX estimation, and engineering for three 5,000 BpD modular refineries including CDU, Zeoforming® gasoline, jet-fuel, and VDU units.
Zeoforming® gasoline plant design and engineering for a strategic fuel-security programme serving a landlocked market with no domestic gasoline-production capacity.
Fuel emulsion technology advisory and bitumen-emulsion plant engineering for the Vietnamese downstream market, including MSAR low-emission heavy-fuel emulsion technology deployment.
Full CAPEX estimation and process engineering for heavy-oil upgrading and conversion technology, covering ebullated-bed hydrocracking and thermal conversion routes.
10,000 BPSD greenfield refinery, Akonikien. CDU Unit 100 + Zeoforming® Unit 200. Full Detailed Feasibility Study including financial model, technology selection, and Ministry of Mines & Hydrocarbons submission package. Blend API 39.80° · Gasoline 92 RON 92.26 kt/yr · IRR 53.54%.
100 kt/yr AI-95-K5 gasoline plant, Pyt-Yakh, KhMAO. Zeoforming® plus C5/C6 isomerisation configuration. Full DFS package including P&ID, plot plan, and financial model. IRR ~21% · DSCR 1.62×.
The Oil & Gas practice maintains technical capacity across the full international licensor stack and independent sector coverage from exploration through product commercialisation. We recommend what the asset needs, not what maximises our scope. Working coverage includes Honeywell UOP, Axens, KBR, Topsoe, Lummus / CB&I, Shell Global Solutions, Sinopec / SEI, ExxonMobil CTL, Chevron Lummus Global, and the proprietary Russian process IP held by Energy & Engineering LLC in partnership with the UFA Petroleum Institute, the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, and the Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis.
Concession and licensing strategy, reserve audit and field-development planning, partner mapping, crude assay analysis, marketing strategy, and transportation and storage architecture.
Configuration screens, hydrocracker / FCC / coker / hydrotreater unit design and revamps, product-slate optimisation, naphtha and aromatics integration, AGRU and SRU, and sulfur balance across refinery units.
Steam crackers, polyolefins, MEG/PET, aromatics, methanol, urea and ammonia, fertiliser chains, and specialty chemicals. Procurement, off-take, and partnership structuring with major international licensors.
Gas gathering, treatment, NGL fractionation, mid-scale LNG, FLNG, regasification, gas-to-power, and pipeline transportation. LNG SPA structuring and host-government interface.
Bitumen refining, PMB / emulsion / cutback production, turnkey terminals (DENIMOTECH legacy), pavement and mix-design consultancy to AASHTO / ASTM / EN / JTJ compliance.
MSAR and heavy-fuel emulsion technology for power stations and industrial boilers. Low-emission heavy-fuel programmes designed around the MSAR precedent delivered across CIS, Poland, Romania, and Vietnam.
The Oil & Gas desk is not a generalist advisory layer over a commercial firm. It is a vertically integrated operation: the founder’s three decades of petroleum-chain deal-making, backed by the deepest independent Russian downstream engineering capability operating outside the major IOC ecosystem. One house. Full chain. Commercial to commissioning.
