John Thomas worked as an in-house legal counsel at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (“KNPC”), Kuwait for twenty years and was in charge of major international construction and technology projects. His experience in KNPC included, briefly, the following:

• Handling the negotiation and drafting of various contracts and agreements in connection with numerous multi-million US dollar PMC, EPC, EPCM and Maintenance projects (scores of them in the range of 250 million to 1 billion US dollars), including two mega projects, namely, the Al-Zour Refinery Project and Clean Fuel Projects, each in excess of 15 billion US dollars.
• Managing or otherwise assisting in the administration of local and international tenders or RFPs (RFQs) in respect of the above projects, including negotiating the deviations, qualifications and assumptions made in response to KNPC’s said tenders or RFPs (RFQs).
• Handling the special assignment of negotiating (at the request of KNPC’s top management) a US $ 250 Million EPC project for a sister oil company in Kuwait.
• Leading the special assignment of negotiating (at the request of KNPC’s top management) a suite of technology licensing agreements with several major international process licensors on behalf of another sister oil company in Kuwait.
• Analyzing, negotiating and resolving high value claims and disputes, often running into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Prior to joining KNPC, John Thomas’ experience as a legal consultant in Kuwait included the following:

• Providing drafting and contractual support services for a US$ 2 billion joint venture project between Petrochemical Industries Co. and Union Carbide Corporation, U.S.A. for establishing and constructing a petrochemical plant for the JV-company, Equate, in Kuwait.
• Providing drafting and contractual support and advice for a joint-venture project between Gulf Investment Corporation (a company owned by GCC countries) and Ottokompu, Finland for establishing and constructing a 10,000-ton per annum copper plant in Saudi Arabia.
• Acting for contractors and consultants in identifying the risks and liabilities contained in project-sponsors’/owners’ tenders/RFPs (RFQs) and negotiating and finalizing the contracts with project-sponsors/owners.
• Advising on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures and practices, including drafting the required contractual provisions or agreements.

John Thomas also practiced as an Advocate, specializing in civil and constitutional matters, in the High Court of Kerala between 1990 and 1993.