King & Spalding's London office has won a new appointment as international legal counsel to the Greek Ministry of Environment Energy & Climate Change on the first sale of local oil exploration licences since 1996.

Garry Pegg, co-managing partner of King & Spalding's London office, is taking the lead role on the deal, working alongside global transactions partner Hywel Jones and London associates Nina Howell and Susanna Marshall.

The mandate sees the firm advising as the local environment ministry launches a tender to grant licences for exploration and production in the Gulf of Patras, the Ilia region and the northwest mountainous stretch Epirus in Greece.

Pegg (pictured) previously advised the Greek Ministry of Environment when he was a partner at legacy LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae on the legal framework and model arrangements for the last oil exploration licensing round in 1996, although the deal represents a client win for King & Spalding.

Pegg said: "Greece is a great place to do business. It has a well-developed set of investor agreements and the last round of licences [drawn up between 1996 and 1999] were very well received by the international petroleum community."

Government estimates put the size of oil deposits in the region at around 300 million barrels, with the exploration likely to generate billions of dollars in revenues for the local economy at a time when oil is selling for more than $100 (£62) a barrel. It would also reduce Greece's reliance on oil imports.