As we all know by now, the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has caused a plethora of business challenges, including supply-chain disruption, Force Majeure contract management issues, contractual defaults, and cash-flow problems. While Americans have started receiving COVID-19 vaccines, the energy industry is not out of the woods just yet when it comes to recovering from the pandemic.

Flurry of Force Majeure Claims Ebbing Of course, the pandemic has had a profound effect on the global supply chain, triggering a heighted analysis of Force Majeure contract provisions. There was a cascading flurry of activity in the energy industry at the beginning of the pandemic when companies were most uncertain about the future. Thus, while industry counsel were busy sending required Force Majeure notifications to their clients, they were also receiving a blizzard of them from their vendors, which then triggered further required responses to their vendors, and so on. However, after this initial flurry, businesses adapted to these "unprecedented times" and became more flexible and understanding of the situation we all find ourselves in.