Mr. Marino is a shareholder in the firm and is involved in a wide range of energy related transactions. He concentrates his practice generally in mineral title examination, the acquisition and divestiture of mineral properties, regulatory matters relating to onshore leases and offshore leases, including state waters and federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf, and energy related financing transactions involving the negotiation and performance of exploration, development, operating and joint venture agreements.

Mr. Marino has represented numerous energy producing companies before the State of Louisiana, Office of Mineral Resources, State Mineral and Energy Board, Office of Conservation and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, (formerly known as the Minerals Management Service) in the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska OCS Regions, Department of the Interior, Interior Board of Land Appeals, and other regulatory agencies concerning a variety of matters such as plugging and abandonment liability, bonding, oil spill financial responsibility, royalty valuation, royalty relief, incidents of non-compliance, unitization, unit agreements and commingling agreements, gas sales, processing and marketing agreements, production handling agreements, onshore and offshore facilities use agreements, rights-of-way, pipelines, servitudes, surface and subsurface agreements. He was formerly with the law firm of Gordon, Arata, McCollam & Duplantis.

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Ms. Assalé concentrates her practice in the areas of oil and gas law, including mineral title examination, the acquisition and disposition of mineral properties, and general commercial transactions. She is experienced in the negotiation and drafting of a variety of agreements such as purchase and sale agreements, production handling agreements, boarding agreements, operating and joint venture agreements, mineral leases, leases of platform space, confidentiality agreements, master service agreements, and transportation agreements. She regularly renders opinions on complex mineral and surface titles in Louisiana and on the Outer Continental Shelf. Before becoming an attorney, Ms. Assalé worked for several years in the oil and gas industry with Shell Exploration & Production Company. As a Senior Contracts & Joint Ventures Representative, she served as a liaison between several internal groups (Finance, Legal, Regulatory and Operations) and between Shell and its external partners. She oversaw the governance and prosecution of a number of Oil and Gas contracts and agreements related to Shell’s assets in the Gulf of Mexico (Offshore, Deepwater, US), and in Canada (onshore, Alberta Province - Southern Alberta, and Offshore, Nova Scotia Province - Sable Island), as well as the divestment of certain assets in said regions. Ms. Assalé is fluent in French.

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Douglas James Wills is an Assistant Vice President and Senior Surety Claims Counsel with Chubb, a division of Federal Insurance Company. Mr. Wills graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1992 and The District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law in 1995. He served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Robert E. Francis, J.S.C., Superior Court of New Jersey, Gloucester County, Salem County and Cumberland County, Chancery Division, General Equity, 1995-1996. Mr. Wills is licensed to practice law in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and The District of Columbia. He acquired significant litigation experience while working in the South Jersey and Philadelphia region. Mr. Wills has extensive experience in surety performance and payment bond claim matters. Prior to Chubb, Mr. Wills worked for Reliance Insurance Company and St. Paul Surety as Surety Counsel and for Liberty Mutual Surety as Senior Surety Counsel. 

Mr. Wills is a member of the American Bar Association and a Vice-Chair of the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Fidelity and Surety Law General Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Philadelphia Surety Claims Association, and the Pearlman Surety Association. Additionally, Mr. Wills is a Governor’s appointed member of the Board of Trustees for Rowan College at Gloucester County, serving on the Executive Committee and as Treasurer.

Kyle Bambule is a Vice President in Chubb’s Commercial Surety Underwriting Group.  Mr. Bambule has over 23 years of experience in the surety industry.  He graduated from Indiana University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Finance.  He began his career at USF&G as a Surety Trainee spending time in both their Dallas and Los Angeles offices and primarily focused on construction surety. During the period of 1996-2007 Mr. Bambule held various underwriting positions at CNA Surety, W.R. Berkley Reinsurance and Liberty Mutual Surety.  In 2008 Mr. Bambule accepted a position with the ACE Group in Chicago exclusively focusing on Commercial Surety.  Over the years Mr. Bambule’s portfolio of surety clients has spanned across a vast array of industries which have ranged in size from small local businesses to global Fortune 500 Companies, including clients in the oil and gas industry.   ACE merged with Chubb in January of 2016 and Mr. Bambule has spent the last 8 years of his career at the combined companies.  Today Mr. Bambule heads the Southwest Region which includes the business markets of Denver, Dallas and Houston. Mr. Bambule currently resides in Golden Colorado with his wife and two children.           

J. Keith Couvillion is the Deepwater Land Manager supporting Chevron's Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Exploration and Projects Business Unit located in Houston, Texas. Mr. Couvillion originally joined Texaco in early 1980 and has worked either onshore or offshore for over 36 years in many capacities supporting Texaco's, and now Chevron’s, exploration and production operations in the Gulf of Mexico region. He has held the positions of Landman, District Landman, Offshore Land Manager, New Orleans Production Operations Land Manager and Land Consultant. Mr. Couvillion has been involved in the offshore portion of the land profession since late 1985 when he transferred from Houston to Texaco's Southern Exploration Division in New Orleans. In 1997, Mr. Couvillion assumed the responsibility of Offshore Land Manager for Texaco's New Orleans based business unit. In November of 2001, he accepted a position with the newly formed ChevronTexaco organization (now Chevron) as an in-house Land Consultant. In 2004, Mr. Couvillion returned to Houston where he has continued to serve Chevron as the Deepwater Land Manager for the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Couvillion has been and is currently active in many industry trade and professional associations supporting Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) activities. He has served as co-Chairman of the API led Marine Wildlife Issues Group and Chairman of the OCS Issues Group. Mr. Couvillion has also served as a Vice President of AAPL, the Chairman of the Petroleum Landman’s Association of New Orleans OCS/Public Lands Committee, the Chairman of the OCS Advisory Board (formerly the AAPL OCS Committee), the Chairman of the API OCS Issues Group (now know as the Offshore Issues Subcommittee) and numerous other leadership and membership positions in many ad hoc industry committees. Mr. Couvillion is a frequent presenter in industry, academic and government forums both in the United States and aboard addressing offshore issues. Over the past several years Mr. Couvillion has served as a guest professor at both the University of Oklahoma and University of Tulsa where he teaches Petroleum Land Management and Energy Commerce students about offshore oil and gas activities. He has given lectures on offshore topics during multiple AAPL Annual Meetings, at AAPL, HAPL and PLANO educational forums, to the OCS Policy Committee in Washington DC, to members of the American Legislative Exchange Council, representatives from the Department of Defense, the Department of Interior, Department of Commerce, the Department of State, NASA, COPAS Accounting Association and numerous other government and industry organizations both domestically and internationally. Mr. Couvillion has testified before Congress on issues related to offshore leasing. Mr. Couvillion has published numerous articles on topics of interest to the offshore industry in various industry publications. 2 Mr. Couvillion received the AAPL Outstanding Committee Member Award in 2003, the Minerals Management Service’s Corporate Leadership Award in 2006 and the Petroleum Landman’s Association of New Orleans Landman of the Year Award in 2006 and 2013. Mr. Couvillion graduated from Lamar University in 1978 and 1979 where he obtained both a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Business. He enjoys volunteering in the community and has spent many years as an adult leader with the Boy Scouts of America, a coach for young sports and numerous other community activities. Mr. Couvillion also enjoys outdoor activities especially hiking, motorcycle riding, snorkeling, sailing and gardening. He has been married for over 36 years and has two adult married children.

Michael Vallejo joined Arena Energy in 2013. He manages Arena’s credit facilities and is involved in its strategic planning, risk management, and corporate development functions. In addition, he oversees planning, treasury, tax, and financial reporting for Arena. Michael has held senior positions at a variety of public and private companies and is well experienced in planning, mergers and acquisitions, strategy, fundraising, and controllership. Prior to joining Arena, Mr. Vallejo held senior financial roles with oilfield service and energy advisory companies, including JMC Steel Group and HFBE. Mr. Vallejo has an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin. He is also a CFA Charterholder and Certified Public Accountant.