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Gregory M. Bopp

Bopp, Gregory M.

Partner

P 713.221.1511
F 713.221.2198
greg.bopp@bgllp.com

Assistant

Jennifer Manchi
713.222.3076

Greg Bopp serves as co-chair of the firm's Business and Regulatory Section and is a member of the firm's Management Committee. Mr. Bopp has experience in tax and corporate matters related to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and capital markets transactions. His clients include master limited partnerships (MLPs), foreign and domestic public corporations, investment banks and private investment funds.

A significant part of Mr. Bopp's practice involves midstream and upstream energy transactions, including structuring and negotiating complex joint venture arrangements and transactions involving partnerships and MLPs. In addition, Mr. Bopp regularly counsels clients on matters related to MLP qualifying income.

Mr. Bopp is recognized as one of the leading corporate/M&A and tax lawyers by Chambers USA America's Leading Lawyers for Business and for being described by clients as "steeped in the practice and lore of MLPs" and "a real authority in the area of MLP tax issues." He is also recognized by The Legal 500 United States as a leader in tax and in mergers, acquisitions and buyouts and for being described by clients as "very efficient," "very pragmatic," "an excellent business tax adviser," and "a master of his field." Mr. Bopp is a CPA and, prior to attending law school, worked for KPMG in the audit and tax practice areas.

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Representative Matters

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Sale of EP Energy Corporation
Represented KMI in connection with El Paso Corporation's pending disposition of El Paso's exploration and production business for approximately $7.15 billion to affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC and Riverstone Holdings, LLC, who are joined by Access Industries, Inc. and other parties

Apache Corporation
Acquisition of Cordillera Energy Partners Ill LLC
Represented Apache in its $2.85 billion acquisition of Cordillera, a privately held company with operations and acreage across the prolific Granite Wash, Tonkawa, Cleveland and Marmaton plays in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Acquisition of El Paso Corporation
Represented KMI in its pending acquisition of El Paso Corporation for approximately $38 billion (including the assumption of debt outstanding at El Paso Corporation and including the debt outstanding at El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P.)

Chesapeake Energy Corporation
Royalty Trust IPO
Represented Chesapeake in connection with the $437 million initial public offering of Chesapeake Granite Wash Trust

QR Energy, LP
Acquisition of Upstream Assets
Represented the conflicts committee of the board of QRE GP, LLC in connection with the acquisition by QR Energy of oil and natural gas properties from its sponsor, Quantum Resources Fund, for approximately $577 million

Encore Energy Partners LP
Acquisition by Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC
Represented the conflicts committee of Encore Energy Partners in connection with the acquisition by Vanguard of the interests in Encore owned by the public for approximately $545 million of Vanguard common units

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Haynesville Purchase and Eagle Ford Joint Venture
Represented KMEP in its approximately $920 million acquisition of Petrohawk Energy Corporation's 50% interest in KinderHawk Field Services (the largest natural gas gathering and midstream business in the Haynesville shale) and a 25% interest in Petrohawk's natural gas gathering and treating business in the Eagle Ford shale

Spectra Energy Partners, LP
Acquisition of Big Sandy Pipeline
Represented Spectra Energy Partners in its approximately $390 million acquisition of the Big Sandy Pipeline from EQT Corporation

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Initial Public Offering
Represented KMI in connection with its $3.2 billion initial public offering

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Equity Investment
Represented KMEP in its preferred equity investment in Watco Companies, LLC, the largest privately held short line railroad company in the United States

Enerplus Corporation
Corporate Conversion
Represented Enerplus in its conversion from a Canadian income trust to a Canadian corporation

Scotia Capital Inc.
Initial Public Offering of Eagle Energy Trust
Represented Scotia Capital which served as the lead underwriter in connection with the initial public offering of Eagle Energy Trust, a Canadian trust that owns upstream properties in the United States

Shell
Disposition of Refined Products Terminal in Puerto Rico
Represented an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc in its sale to Buckeye Partners, L.P. of a refined petroleum products terminal located in Puerto Rico

Apache Corporation
Acquisition of BP Assets in Permian Basin, Canada and Egypt
Represented Apache in its $7 billion acquisition of BP's oil and gas operations, acreage and infrastructure in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico and Egypt's Western Desert, as well as substantially all of BP's upstream natural gas business in western Canada and British Columbia

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Haynesville Shale Joint Venture
Represented KMEP in its approximately $921 million acquisition of 50% of Petrohawk Energy's natural gas gathering and treating assets in the Haynesville shale gas formation in northwest Louisiana and the formation of the KinderHawk Field Services joint venture

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Eagle Ford Shale Joint Venture
Represented KMEP in its Eagle Ford Gathering LLC joint venture with Copano Energy to provide gathering, transportation and processing services to natural gas producers in the Eagle Ford shale gas formation in south Texas

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Gas Gathering Joint Venture
Represented KMEP in the acquisition of a 40% interest in Endeavor Gathering LLC, which provides natural gas gathering service to GMX Resources Inc.'s exploration and production activities in its Cotton Valley Sands and Haynesville/Bossier Shale horizontal well developments located in East Texas 

Enerplus Corporation
Marcellus Shale Acquisition
Represented Enerplus in its $406 million acquisition of working interests in the Marcellus shale natural resource play from Chief Oil & Gas LLC, Chief Exploration & Development LLC and a limited partnership managed by Tug Hill, Inc.

Western Gas Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Midstream Assets from Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
Represented the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Western Gas Holdings, LLC in the acquisition by Western Gas Partners of a 51% membership interest in Chipeta Processing LLC and associated infrastructure from Anadarko for approximately $107 million

Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P.
Alberta Clipper Joint Venture
Represented the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Enbridge Energy Management LLC in the $1.2 billion joint venture between Enbridge Energy Partners and Enbridge Inc. related to the U.S. segment of the Alberta Clipper crude oil pipeline project

Western Gas Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Midstream Assets from Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
Represented the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Western Gas Holdings, LLC in the acquisition by Western Gas Partners of certain midstream assets located in the Powder River Basin from Anadarko for $210 million

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Sale of 80% Interest in NGPL PipeCo LLC
Represented KMI in its $5.9 billion sale of an 80% interest in NGPL PipeCo LLC (formerly MidCon Corp), which owns Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, to Myria Acquisition Inc. which is owned by a syndicate of investors led by Babcock & Brown

W-H Energy Services Inc.
Acquisition by Smith International, Inc.
Represented W-H Energy in its $3.2 billion acquisition by Smith International, Inc.

Enerplus Corporation
Merger with Focus Energy Trust
Represented Enerplus in its $1.7 billion acquisition of Focus Energy Trust

Fayetteville Express Pipeline, LLC
Natural Gas Pipeline Joint Venture
Represented KMEP in its $1.3 billion joint venture with Energy Transfer Partners L.P. involving a 187-mile natural gas transmission system

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Sale of Trans Mountain
Represented KMI in the $549.1 million sale of the Trans Mountain pipeline system to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Leveraged Buyout of Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Represented KMI in the $22 billion management led buyout of Kinder Morgan, Inc.

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
Merger of MarkWest Hydrocarbon, Inc. with MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P.
Represented Merrill Lynch, as financial advisor to the deal committee of the board of directors of MarkWest Hydrocarbon, in connection with the redemption/merger transaction involving MarkWest Hydrocarbon, Inc. and MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P.

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Sale of Corridor Pipeline System
Represented KMI in the $711 million (C$760 million) sale of the Corridor Pipeline System to Inter Pipeline Fund

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Sale of Terasen Inc.
Represented KMI in its $3.4 billion (C$3.7 billion) sale of Terasen Inc. (Canada-based retail natural gas distribution operations) to Fortis Inc.

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Sale of U.S. Retail Operations
Represented KMI in its $710 million sale of its U.S. retail natural gas distribution and related operations to GE
Energy Financial Services, a subsidiary of General Electric Company, and Alinda Investments L.L.C.

Constellation Energy Group, Inc.
Acquisition of Cornerstone Energy, Inc.
Represented Constellation in its $108.3 million acquisition of Cornerstone Energy, Inc, one of the nation's largest non-utility affiliated natural gas marketing companies

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Sale of North System
Represented KMEP in its $298.6 million sale of its North System natural gas liquids and refined petroleum products pipeline system and its 50% ownership interest in the Heartland Pipeline Company to ONEOK Partners, L.P.

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
Acquisition of 20% Interest in Northern Border Pipeline Company by TC PipeLines, LP
Represented Merrill Lynch, as financial advisor to TC PipeLines, LP, in connection with the acquisition by TCLP of an additional 20% general partner interest in Northern Border Pipeline Company

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
Sale by TEPPCO Partners, L.P. of Gas Processing Plant to Enterprise Products Partners, L.P
Represented Merrill Lynch, as financial advisor to the Audit and Conflicts Committee of TEPPCO's board of directors, in connection with TEPPCO's sale of the Pioneer natural gas processing plant to an affiliate of Enterprise

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Cochin Pipeline System
Represented KMEP in its $47.8 million acquisition of the remaining approximate 50.2% interest in the Cochin pipeline system that it did not already own from affiliates of BP

Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
Natural Gas Pipeline Joint Venture
Represented KMEP in its $4.9 billion joint venture with Sempra Energy and ConocoPhillips involving a 1,679-mile natural gas pipeline system

MidContinent Express Pipeline LLC
Natural Gas Pipeline Joint Venture
Represented KMEP in its $1.3 billion joint venture with Energy Transfer Partners L.P. involving a 500-mile natural gas transmission system

Kinder Morgan Management, LLC
IPO and Subsequent Equity Offerings
Represented Kinder Morgan Management in its $1 billion initial public offering of institutionally oriented securities and subsequent equity offerings

Laminar Direct Capital L.P.
Oil and Gas Financings/Investments
Represented Laminar Direct Capital L.P., the U.S. direct capital unit of the D.E. Shaw group, in various investments in oil and gas partnerships

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Equity and Debt Offerings
Represented KMEP in numerous equity and debt offerings from 1998 through current

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Sale of Terasen Water and Utility Services
Represented KMI in its C$124 million sale of Terasen Water and Utility Services to a group led by CAI Capital Management Co.

Goldman Sachs E&P Capital
Oil and Gas Financings/Investments
Represented Goldman Sachs E&P Capital in various investments in oil and gas partnership

Reliant Energy, Inc.
Consent Solicitation
Represented Reliant in its consent solicitation with respect to three series of its outstanding Senior Secured Notes and five series of Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority's outstanding Exempt Facilities Revenue Bonds

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Acquisition of Terasen Inc.
Represented KMI in its $5.6 billion cross-border acquisition of Terasen Inc and related financing

Norsk Hydro ASA
Acquisition of Spinnaker Exploration Co.
Represented Norsk Hydro in its $2.45 billion acquisition of Spinnaker Exploration Co.

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Contribution of TransColorado Gas Transmission Company
Represented KMI in its $275 million contribution of TransColorado Gas Transmission Company to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.

Shell Aviation
Airplane Fueling Joint Venture
Represented Shell Aviation, a division of Shell Oil Products US, in its airplane fueling joint venture with Servisair/GlobeGround

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Bulk Terminal Operations
Represented KMEP in its $247.2 million acquisition of seven bulk terminal operations from Trans-Global Solutions, Inc.

Statoil ASA
Acquisition of Assets from EnCana Corp.
Represented Statoil in its $2 billion acquisition of EnCana's entire deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico portfolio

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Permian Basin Assets
Represented KMEP in its $259 million acquisition of certain assets in the Permian Basin of West Texas from a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation, including Marathon's approximate 42.5% interest in the Yates oil field unit, Marathon's 100% interest in the crude oil gathering system surrounding the Yates field and Marathon's 100% interest in Marathon Carbon Dioxide Transportation Company

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Tejas Gas, LLC
Represented KMEP in its $881.5 million acquisition of Tejas Gas, LLC from InterGen (North America), Inc.

Inergy, L.P.
Acquisition of Natural Gas Liquids Business
Represented Inergy in its acquisition of EOTT Energy, L.P.'s West Coast natural gas liquids (NGL) business

Inergy, L.P.
Acquisition of Canadian Propane Marketer and Transporter
Represented Inergy in its acquisition of certain assets of Resource Energy Marketing Ltd., a wholesale propane marketer and transporter based in Calgary

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Trailblazer Pipeline Company
Represented KMEP in its $68 million acquisition of the remaining 33 1/3% ownership interest in Trailblazer Pipeline Company from Enron Trailblazer Pipeline Company

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Pipeline and Terminal Business
Represented KMEP in its $1.15 billion acquisition of the United States pipeline and terminal businesses of GATX Corporation, including CALNEV Pipe Line Company, Central Florida Pipeline Company and 12 terminals that store refined petroleum products and chemicals

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Formation of Permian Basin Joint Venture
Represented KMEP in its joint venture with Marathon Oil Company in the southern Permian Basin of West Texas consisting of a nearly 13% interest in the SACROC Unit and a 49.9% interest in the Yates oil field.

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Contribution of Midstream Assets
Represented KMI in its $300 million contribution of assets to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., including Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline L.P., the Casper and Douglas Natural Gas Gathering and Processing Systems, a 50% interest in Coyote Gas Treating, LLC and a 25% interest in Thunder Creek Gas Services, LLC

Norsk Hydro USA Oil & Gas Inc.
Working Interest Joint Venture
Represented Norsk Hydro in its joint venture with Conoco Inc. involving working interest participation in deepwater wells located in the Gulf of Mexico

Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Contribution of Midstream Assets
Represented KMI in its $700 million contribution of assets to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., including the Kinder Morgan Interstate pipeline system, a 49% interest in Red Cedar Gathering Company and a 33% interest in Trailblazer Pipeline Company

Kinder Morgan (Delaware), Inc.
Merger with K N Energy, Inc.
Represented Kinder Morgan in its merger with K N Energy , Inc.

SWEPI LP
Acquisition of Oil and Gas Properties
Represented SWEPI LP, an affiliate of Shell Exploration & Production, in its acquisition of oil and gas properties located primarily in Wyoming and Colorado

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
Acquisition of Assets of Santa Fe Pacific Pipeline Partners, L.P.
Represented KMEP in its $1.4 billion acquisition of the operating partnership of Santa Fe Pacific Pipeline Partners, L.P.

Education

J.D., magna cum laude, South Texas College of Law, 1995
B.B.A., Accounting, The University of Texas at Austin, 1989

Bar Admissions

Texas

Noteworthy

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Corporate/M&A, 2007-2013; Tax, 2009-2013
US Legal 500, Tax, 2009-2013; Energy: Transactions, 2012-2013; Capital Markets: Debt Offerings, 2013; Capital Markets: Equity Offerings, 2013; Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Large Deals ($1-5 Billion), 2013; Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Middle Market ($500-999 Million), 2010-2012; Mergers & Acquisitions, 2008
The Best Lawyers in America - Tax (2010)
Editor-in-Chief, South Texas Law Review