A seasoned commercial transactional lawyer with extensive energy industry expertise, Tom helps clients capitalize on opportunities they may not see coming.

Thomas McInerney is a partner in McCarthy Tétrault’s Business Law Group, and Energy & Resources Group based in Calgary. His commercial transactional practice focuses on helping power and energy industry clients identify and pursue strategic growth opportunities, both in Canada and abroad.

Thomas helps clients in the upstream, midstream and services sectors successfully navigate the evolving nature of the oil & gas market. With a pulse on the shifting demands of the energy sector, Tom has particular expertise in renewable fuel/power and climate change and emissions trading. He represents developers and owners of renewable fuel/power projects including those involving solar, wind, biomass, biomethane and hydrogen.

He helps clients develop strategies to remain competitive and compliant in respect of climate change and emissions legislation, as well as project proponents, aggregators and large emitters in the marketing and sale of emissions offsets, emissions performance credits, renewable energy certificates and other emission trading credits and instruments.

Clients turn to Thomas for his extensive knowledge of asset and share purchase and sale transactions, corporate/commercial reorganizations and restructurings, new project development, structuring joint ventures and partnerships, marketing arrangements and licensing, the use of proprietary technology, large engineering procurement and construction projects, particularly within the oil sands, pipeline and power generation and transmission industries.

Select list of representative work:

Transactional (Energy/General Corporate)

• Represented Waste Connections Inc. in its acquisition of energy waste treatment and disposal facilities from Secure Energy Services Inc. for $1.075 billion.
• Represented Cenovus Energy Inc., in its $23.6-billion acquisition of Husky Energy Inc.
• Represented ATCO Ltd., in its acquisition of Western Australia Gas Networks (WAGN) in Perth, Australia, for $1 billion.
• Represented Paramount Resources Ltd., in the sale of sour gas processing assets in northwestern Alberta to Pembina Gas Services Limited Partnership, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pembina Pipeline Corporation, for $600 million.
• Represented Corridor Resources Inc., in its $100-million joint venture with the Government of Quebec (through its affiliate, Ressources Quebec Inc.), Petrolia Inc. and Establissements Maurel & Prom S.A. (through its subsidiary, Saint-Aubin E&P (Quebec) Inc.).
• Represented Veresen Inc., in the purchase of Encana Corp's midstream gas gathering and processing plants in Alberta and British Columbia for $920 million.

Power and Renewables Projects

• Represented TELUS Corporation, in respect of a long-term renewable power purchase agreement as sole offtaker from the Brooks Solar Project, a 15MW solar power generation facility located in Brooks, Alberta, including the acquisition of renewable energy certificates (RECs) associated with such renewable power.
• Represented First Solar Inc., in the development, permitting, financing and divestiture of an Ontario-based 50 MW solar energy facility to a partnership consisting of GE Energy and Plutonic Holdings for a purchase price of approximately $400 million.
• Represented Acciona Wind Energy Canada, in connection with the sale of carbon credits generated by an Alberta-based wind farm to an Alberta carbon compliance buyer; and ongoing corporate/commercial, real estate and regulatory advice for a proposed wind project in Alberta.
• Represented ATCO Power, Samsung Renewable Energy and Siksika nation, in the formation of a joint venture for submission of a response to Alberta Infrastructure's RFP (Plan No. 019652) – New Alberta Based Solar Power.
• Represented Mustus Energy Ltd., in the development, construction and operation of a wood biomass project and the sale of emission offsets created by such project to CP Energy Marketing L.P.

Energy Infrastructure Projects

• Represented Trans Mountain Pipeline L.P., lead project counsel overseeing the negotiation and drafting of all project documents pertaining to mainline pipeline construction in respect of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project for an aggregate project value in excess of $10 billion dollars.
• Represented ATCO Pipelines, in all project agreements and associated competitive proposal processes for ATCO Pipelines' Urban Pipeline Replacement (UPR) Project.
• Represented Shell Canada, in construction contracts for the expansion of it $6-billion Athabasca Oil Sands Project.
• Represented Japan Canada Oil Sands (JACOS), in commercial matters for development of JACOS Hangingstone Project.
• Represented MEG Energy, in engineering, procurement, and construction and other commercial matters in MEG's Christina Lake multi-phased SAGD project.

Climate Change and Emissions Trading

• Represented Acciona Wind Energy Canada, in its sale to Petro-Canada of emission offsets created from its Alberta wind power projects.
• Represented Alberta Power (2000) Ltd. and TransAlta Cogeneration, L.P., in their acquisition of emission offsets from the Alberta Balancing Pool.
• Represented ATCO Power Canada Ltd. and Canadian Natural Resources Limited, in negotiating a Gas Compliance Credits Transfer Agreement.
• Represented Heartland Generation Ltd., in its acquisition of emission offsets and emission performance credits from Carbon Credit Solutions Inc.
• Represented NAL Resources Ltd., in the negotiation of a VEC Development and Marketing Agreement with Blue Source Methane ULC, in respect of emission offsets created through switching from pneumatic to electric pumps.

Tom was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1999. He received his BA from the University of Lethbridge in 1994 and his LLB from the University of Alberta in 1998.