Francisco Balduzzi advises clients on cross border and international corporate, commercial, and investment transactions, with a primary focus on Latin America. He represents clients across the Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) sector—including oil and gas, power and renewables, and metals and mining—acting for both operators and service companies. Francisco is a member of the Firm’s Global Energy Leadership Team, co chair of the Mining Practice Group, and a core member of the Latin America Practice Group.
Francisco pairs hands on infrastructure project experience with meaningful board room level experience. Drawing on senior in house counsel roles at multinational ENR companies, he brings a practical, business aligned approach to legal strategy. He previously served as Head of Legal for LATAM and Asia Pacific at one of the world’s largest gold mining companies and spent more than a decade at a global energy services company in regional and global roles, including Group Assistant General Counsel. This background enables him to integrate legal execution with commercial priorities, manage risk proactively, and design cost efficient legal solutions.
Francisco advises clients on global growth and deleveraging strategies. His experience includes structuring mergers and acquisitions, global legal entity rationalizations, joint ventures, new country entries, foreign investments, project development, engineering, and construction contracts (EPC, EPCM, BOOMT), and navigating currency restrictions. He also assists Latin American clients entering the U.S. market. He also has experience in managing complex international disputes, negotiating with foreign governments, and developing multijurisdictional strategies to address clients’ legal challenges. His geographic experience spans Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Guyana, Israel, Mexico, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela.
Francisco currently serves as an Officer of the International Bar Association’s Mining Law Committee and Senior Advisor to the Global Research Council of the Energy Law & Policy Center at Tulane Law School. He previously held leadership roles as president of the Houston Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, board member of the Instituto Argentino del Petróleo & Gas in Houston, and co chair of the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Alumni Club of Houston.
Representative Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
Mergers and Acquisitions and other Transactions
- Represented Wood in its $110 million divestiture of its North American transmission and distribution engineering business to Qualus LLC.
- Represented TotalEnergies on the $500M disposal of its 45% operated interest in two unconventional oil and gas blocks in Vacamuerta region of Argentina to YPF S.A.
- Advised major trading house on the $30 million aggregate structuring and financing of oil & gas projects in Argentina.
- Represented Wood in its $30 million divestiture of Kelchner Inc, a U.S. civil construction services business, to Strength Capital Partners (SCP).
- Represented Wood in its $30 million divestiture of CEC Controls and its affiliated entity in Mexico to SCIO Automation Group.
- Represented Expro in the $106 million cash and stock acquisition of PRT Offshore.
- Represented Wood on the $17 million divestiture of an offshore labor oil & gas supply operation within the Gulf of Mexico to a Louisiana-based energy services contractor.
- Advised upstream oilfield services company on the potential divestiture of an upstream service asset in Louisiana.
- Represented Latin American energy company in the acquisition of oil & gas upstream assets in Texas and Louisiana.
- Successfully led, managed, and coordinated a three-month effort to structure the sale of assets located in Latin America within the context of a $2.8 billon divestiture. The sale of assets included inter-alia: (i) unwinding a $16 million joint venture in Venezuela with complex arrangements in foreign jurisdictions, (ii) effecting the spin-off of a $25 million business in Colombia through an asset acquisition and sale, (iii) selling another business in Venezuela to the local management, and (iv) reorganizing and divesting a division’s $250 million asset in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico.
- Represented a global oilfield services company in buying assets valued at $100 million in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Mexico.
- Represented a global energy services company in selling the fifty percent interest of an electric submersible pumps manufacturing business in Venezuela. The $16 million transaction involved a simultaneous asset acquisition and collection of the stock price through the local currency control agency (CADIVI).
- Managed a $50 million multijurisdictional acquisition of an EPC services multinational company based in Ecuador with operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela; transaction did not close.
- Advised an engineering services company on the acquisition of the Brazilian assets within the context of a $100 million acquisition of an Irish engineering services company.
- Advised a global engineering company within the oil and gas industry in the $100 million acquisition of a Brazilian engineering company; transaction did not close.
- Led the $215 million acquisition of a Wyoming oil and gas construction company from an ESOP.
- Led the $190 million acquisition of a US-based oil and gas downstream services company.
- Advised a global energy services company in the takeover of a Canadian energy services company with operations in Canada, the US, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific; transaction did not close.
- Led the $70 million acquisition of a Michigan-based automation company within the automobile industry with operations in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Romania.
- Led the $60 million acquisition of a Texas-based oil and gas construction services company; transaction did not close.
Joint Ventures
- Represented an oil and gas service company in setting up a $40 million unincorporated joint venture (Consorcio) in order to perform an O&M service contract for a gas pipeline in Peru.
- Represented a Peruvian oil and gas services company in setting up a $19 million unincorporated joint venture (Asociación en Participación) with an Argentine company in order to perform a maintenance agreement of a gas compressor unit in the Malvinas field Camisea Project in Peru.
- Represented a Colombian oil and gas services company in setting up a $10 million unincorporated joint venture (Union Transitoria) to perform an EPC contract with Ecopetrol.
- Represented a US well support company in setting up a $60 million offshore joint venture structure to complement the business of the local joint venture structure in Venezuela.
- Negotiated an international joint venture between two oil and gas service companies for the provision of offshore engineering services in Mexico.
- Represented a Cyprus oil and gas services company branch in setting up a joint venture with the state-owned gas monopoly in Equatorial Guinea.
- Represented a US oil and gas engineering and construction company setting up a joint venture with three international partners for a $100 million oil service contract for the maintenance and operation of a PEMEX pipeline in Mexico; transaction did not close.
- Represented an engineering company in the negotiation of a joint venture with an Abu Dhabi partner to perform EPC work in Abu Dhabi.
Cross-border Contracts
- Represented Canadian mining services company in the negotiations of a siesmic services agreement in Mexico.
- Advised a Venezuelan oil and gas service company in the participation of a $300 million bid process before Bariven for the provision and installation of ESP equipment and the provision of technical assistance services for all PDVSA operations in Venezuela.
- Supervised the negotiation of a $120 million EPC and long-term O&M contract for a thermo-plant with the Mexican industrial consortium.
- Represented a Colombian oil and gas service company in negotiating a $100 million BOOMT contract for an oil refinery.
- Advised a Venezuelan oil and gas service company in the participation of a $90 million bid process before PDVSA for the provision and installation of ESP equipment in Barinas and Apure.
- Represented a US engineering company in negotiating a $70 million FEED contract with Ecopetrol.
- Represented a Venezuelan well support company in the negotiation with PDVSA of a $60 million contract for the provision of oil field services.
- Advised a Brazilian oil and gas service company in the negotiation of a $50 million O&M agreement for two wellhead platforms and a floating FSPO in the Peregrino Basin.
International Arbitration
- Represented the joint venture interest of a global energy services company in an international dispute against PDVSA related to a $62.5 million BOOMT contract for water injection facilities in the lake of Maracaibo, Venezuela; the matter was successfully settled.
- Represented a global energy service company (power) in a London-based ICC international construction arbitration against a subcontractor in connection with a $50 million dispute related to major power plant construction project in Israel.
- Represented a US energy services company (power) in a $50 million ICSID arbitration based in Washington, D.C., against the Government of Peru; won the arbitration on the jurisdiction and merits phase.
- Represented a Brazilian energy joint venture company in a Paris-based, four-year ICC construction arbitration against a state-owned utility arising out of a long-term power purchase agreement; obtained a jurisdiction award in favor of client.
- Counseled a Houston-based energy company in connection to a proceeding before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Central American Government.
Professional & Civic Engagement
- Member of and Senior Advisor to the Global Research Council of the Tulane Energy Law & Policy Center at Tulane Law School, Tulane University
- Officer, Mining Law Committee, International Bar Association
- The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law
- World Association of Mining Lawyers
- Menil Society, Houston, TX
Thought Leadership
Speaking Engagements
- Moderator, “M&A and Financing – New Players in the Market." IBA Annual Conference, November 2025
- Moderator, “Strategic Repositioning: M&A Trends in Latin American Energy & Infrastructure as Global Indicators,” Womble Bond Dickinson’s Latin America Symposium, NYC, October 2025
- Speaker, Offtake and Smelting Agreements and Product Marketing and Sales Agreements, International Mining Law Short Course, The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law, October 2024.
- Speaker, WBD Construction Update: "Navigating Pitfalls in Major Construction Projects," November 2023
- Speaker, Institute for Transnational Arbitration's Conference on International Arbitration in the Mining Sectors, March 2023
- Moderator, “A Volatile Global Cocktail and its Impact on M&A and Corporate Transactions in LATAM,” Womble Bond Dickinson’s Latin America Summit, NYC, March 2023
- Speaker, "ESG Considerations for Private Companies and Private Investors," 2023 Lex Mundi Cross-Border Transactions Global Seminar, February 2023
- Speaker, "Bridging Diverse Interests in the Extractive Industries," IBA Annual Conference, October 2022
- Speaker, "Key Issues Facing New In-House Counsel," Texas Bar Event -- In-House Counsel 101 Course, August 2022
- Speaker, Webinar Series: ACC Houston Value Challenge – Value Challenge 101: True Tales In House Success and Making it Work, August 2020
- Speaker, 5th Global Oil & Gas Institute, Houston, Texas, May 2018
- Speaker, M&A Legal Project Management – Teamwork Between In-House and Outside Counsel, HBA M&A Section Meeting, April 2018
- Speaker, ACC Houston Value Challenge: Managing Costs Through M&A Transactions, March 2016
- Speaker, 3rd Annual ITA-IEL-ICC Joint Conference on the International Energy Arbitration, Houston, Texas, January 2016
- Panelist, Corporate Counsel Round Table at First Annual ICC Houston Conference on International Arbitration – Houston as the Crossroads between the Middle East and the Americas, April 2013
- Speaker, “Argentina & Brazil,” Trends in International Arbitration Around the World, Part I, Fulbright London Arbitration Conference, Global Positioning, Managing Disputes All over the Map, Houston, Texas, April 2006
- Speaker, “Central and South America,” Trends in International Arbitration Around the World, Part I, Fulbright London Arbitration Conference, Global Positioning, Managing Disputes All over the Map, London, England, March 2006
- Speaker, “Adventures in International Arbitration,” co-sponsored by the Hyatt Fund, Vanderbilt Law School’s International Law Society and Vanderbilt Alternative Dispute Resolution Organization (VADRO), Vanderbilt University Law School, Nashville, TN, March 16, 2006
- Judge at the Semi-final round for the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, Southwest Regional, hosted by the University of Texas School of Law, 2006
Publications
- Benjamin Busboom, Noah Zedek & Francisco Baluduzzi. “Basics of an Offtake Agreement: Exploring Basic Terms and Underlying Consideration of a Typical Offtake Agreement,’ 71 Nat. Resources & Energy L. Inst. 20-1 (2025)
- Munira Rajkotwalla, "What Milei's government means for Argentinian mining," Interview with Mining Magazine, December 17, 2025
Honors & Awards
- Recognized in Lawdragon's "2026 Lawdragon 100 Lawyers You Need to Know in South America"
- Legal 500 Latin America 2026 recognized Womble Partners Jose Luis Vittor and Francisco Balduzzi as City Leaders in Houston noting “Womble Bond Dickinson‘s emergent Latin America practice is led out of the Houston office by José Luis Vittor, a partner in the Finance Group […]. Fellow partner Francisco Balduzzi is a former head of legal (for Latin America and Asia Pacific) at Barrick Mining Corporation and is co-chair of the mining practice group of the firm.
- Recognized in Lawdragon's "100 Lawyers You Need to Know in South America", 2025
- Lexology Client Choice Award/ Global Elite Thought Leaders, Mergers & Acquisitions and Governance, 2025
- Lexology Client Choice Award, Mergers & Acquisitions and Governance, 2024
- Legal 500 Latin America 2024 recognized Womble in its City Focus: Houston section, noting “Jose Luis Vittor leads the Latin America practice and oil and gas group. Francisco Balduzzi is another experienced figure in energy and infrastructure M&A”
- Legal 500 Latin America 2023 recognized Womble as a “Firm to Watch” in its City Focus: Houston section, noting the growth of the Latin America practice led by the hire of Jose Luis Vittor and further strengthened with the addition of Francisco Balduzzi
- Legal 500 Awards GC Power List 2015. Francisco was part of Wood Group’s legal team which was recognized as one of the “most influential and innovative teams working in the United States.”
- Shortlisted for the International Law Office’s Global M&A Counsel of the Year, 2017
- Shortlisted for the International Law Office's Global General Commercial Award, 2009
Languages
- Spanish
- Portuguese
