Bernardo Cortés Araujo

About

Bernardo Cortés is a partner at Cortés Quesada Abogados. He has more than 10 years of experience in infrastructure and energy projects, specifically focused on regulatory and transactional aspects of said projects.

He is frequently referenced in the national media as a legal expert in energy matters.

Practice Focus

• Energy
• Regulatory
• Project finance
• Government procurement and contracts with State-owned companies
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Transactional
• Dispute resolution

Education

He obtained his law degree from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He also has graduate degrees on international taxes in Universidad Panamericana and commercial arbitration in Escuela Libre de Derecho.

Career

As part of his previous experiences, Mr. Cortés was a partner of an international firm located in Mexico City until 2021 and in 2017-2018 he acted as legal counsel of an international energy company based in Paris, France, where he had the opportunity to negotiate and structure major energy projects in other jurisdictions, such as Cuba, Brazil and Mozambique.

• Represented a well-recognized US electricity trader in a cross-border transaction of electricity with the Mexican power utility (CFE), for energy deliveries between the U.S. and Mexico for up to 450 MW.
• Assisted an international energy company in the negotiation for acquisition of stake in a LNG liquefaction project being developed in Mexico, in order to carry out exports of natural gas to Asian markets.
• He has assisted many generation companies, marketers, suppliers and end-users in the negotiation of more than 50 supply agreements of power and/or natural gas in Mexico.
• He also represented several E&P operators on their activities in blocks located in Mexico, as a result of the bidding rounds called by the CNH.

Languages

Spanish, English, and French