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We support clients’ needs ranging from expansion into new markets, to project financing, to ESG concerns.
The energy industry faces a myriad of obstacles – from concerns around new technologies to the increasing awareness of climate change issues and a challenging renewable energy insurance market.
Our expert team – many of whom have expertise across multiple practices – provides clients with an agile approach to an organization’s key issues and goals. We work with the same vision as our clients – driving growth in a dynamic and evolving environment.
Together, we help clients realize new opportunities and meet greater demands.
Before serving as a Senior Advisor on International Energy Issues in the Trump Administration, Trovato successfully pursued business opportunities around Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. First, as a Resident Program Officer with the International Republican Institute, a globally recognized, preeminent civil society NGO, and later as an independent businessman working in the political and energy sectors.
His work in the Trump Administration gave Trovato an acute knowledge base of energy markets and opportunities around the world where he directed the Department’s Energy Innovation Office and helped to set up the newly created Market Development Office, an initiative designed to assist U.S. energy companies operating abroad.
Trovato was directly responsible for assisting U.S. Energy companies secure financing for multi-million and multi-billion dollar projects from the Export Import Bank of the United States, the DFC, regional banks, and private sector financial institutions. With a geopolitically focused approach, and a mandate to engage countries around the world, Trovato assisted in negotiations to enhance U.S. relationships across the energy spectrum from green technology to LNG to oil and gas to nuclear to clean coal. Trovato’s efforts helped to make the U.S. a net-energy exporter for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Eric Icsel is a seasoned energy and international business executive with over 46 years of development experience in international energy projects. He has successfully negotiated contracts, concessions, and corporate privileges at the highest levels of government and industry in countries such as Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and many African Nations.
Icsel worked as an independent petroleum consultant until 1994. From 1994 to 2001, he was the International Executive Vice President for Howard Energy Corp. Icsel then continued to work with various clients in international transactions as a private consultant to several National Oil and Gas companies. In early 2010 he became VP of Government Affairs for TX Oil, which he co-founded with Neil Bush.
From 1994 to 2001, Icsel served as vice chairman of Azeri Gas International, A Socar – Howard Energy Joint Venture. He was later appointed President of Escalera International to focus on upstream and midstream international opportunities, first in Central Asia and later in Africa.
Icsel currently serves as the President of Straife Turkey. He attended the University of Houston for his Bachelor’s and the University of Texas for his master’s degrees in Business.
Prior to retiring in 2021, Mr. Clarke spent over 30 years as a Special Agent with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). During his career with the FBI, Mr. Clarke led several high-profile organized crime and counter-terrorism investigations, both at home and abroad.
During his service abroad, Mr. Clarke served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan, Russia, Jordan, Bulgaria, and Libya. In 2005 Mr. Clarke opened and led the first Legal Attache office for the Balkan region in the U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. Upon returning to the U.S., Mr. Clarke served as Senior FBI Liaison Officer to the U.S. Department of Defense Southern Command, focusing on interagency operations in Latin America.
In 2012 Mr. Clarke was selected as the lead FBI Case Agent investigating the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. For over seven years, Mr. Clarke led a massive investigation resulting in the dismantlement of the Benghazi Attack Network and the successful capture and prosecution of subjects responsible for the attacks. Michael Clarke was awarded the 2018 Attorney General’s Award and 2020 FBI Director’s Award for his leadership in this investigation.