About FWEnergies
We are an energy advisory and project development firm specializing in the Power Generation, Natural Gas, LNG and LPG value chains
At Featherwood, we’ve been supporting energy companies and project developers since 2003 with practical, experience-based guidance across the Power, Natural Gas, LNG and LPG value chains. Our focus is on helping clients meet their commercial objectives, whether it’s structuring supply agreements, navigating regulatory processes, or developing energy infrastructure from the ground up.
We’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects around the world, including upstream liquefaction facilities, export and import terminals, gas-to-power developments, and more.
Our team has been involved in the negotiation of LNG supply contracts representing a significant portion of North American import capacity, and we continue to advise on major projects in markets across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean.
What drives us is the ability to offer honest, informed advice and to contribute meaningfully to the success of complex energy ventures. We aim to be thoughtful partners, bringing not just technical and market knowledge, but a collaborative mindset that helps clients move forward with confidence.
With decades of combined experience and a hands-on approach, we’re here to support each stage of the project lifecycle from initial feasibility to commercial execution.
Walter Teter
Partner
Walt has 25+ years of experience in the industry of investor/client value creation through identification of undervalued assets, the management of permitting, and the commercial structuring of opportunities has been the hallmark of his career activity. Walt has negotiated multiple complex agreements on behalf of clients and investors, including Purchase and Sale Agreements, Terminal Use Agreements, and corporate structure agreements required to execute complex power delivery chain and related infrastructure activities.
Over the last decade, Walt has been a principal negotiator or advisor for LNG SPA contracts with a notional volume in excess of 7,000,000 MM BTU/day. Additionally, he has been an investor, advisor and negotiator for the development and utilization of nearly a dozen LNG receiving and liquefaction terminals. In the terminal development role, deals negotiated by Walt secured investors a return of 600% in a period of only 18 months.
Prior to 2002, Walt held the position of Senior Vice-President at El Paso Energy where he was responsible for negotiating long-term LNG contracts and all LNG spot trading. The value realized during his three years at El Paso Energy exceeded $225 million (cash basis) and included the successful negotiation and monetization of a 20+ year LNG SPA, the re-opening of the Elba Island LNG receiving terminal, and the acquisition of more than a dozen spot cargoes.
Walt then embarked on a career in energy with Statoil (Equinor), first in North America with the startup of power trading and IPP development and subsequently undertook a key role in the commercial development of the first LNG export project in Europe (Snøhvit). The Snøhvit project has been instrumental in opening up an entirely new frontier energy province, creating prosperity for Northern Norway and enhanced energy security in the Atlantic basin.
Walt has also been involved with projects such as QG2, QG3, QG4 with Qatar Terminals Limited, Ras Gas, Kitimat LNG Project, Panama NG, Elba Island Reactivation and LNG Deliveries, Access Northeast Energy (Bear Head) LNG Facilities, Lake Charles LNG Deliveries, Cove Point Negotiations (Reactivation & Supply), Neptune LNG Deepwater Port (Boston Harbor), Global Energy Bridge TM Projects.
Michael Melkersen
General Counsel
Michael Melkersen has been practicing law for more than a decade specializing in personal injury, wrongful death and business litigation. While still in law school, Melkersen authored the brief that ultimately led to the decision in Maximum Home Health Care, Inc. v. Shalala, Secretary of HHS, 272 F.3d 318 (6thCir. 2001), a landmark decision that was included by United States Supreme Court Justice Breyer in his textbook on administrative law. Early in his career, Melkersen achieved notoriety when he obtained sanctions in a reported federal opinion against one of the largest commercial law firms in Montgomery County Maryland in a case known as Melkersen v. Ray Construction Company, 315 B.R. 45 (D. Md. 2004), which changed the landscape of permitted practices in Maryland commercial and bankruptcy litigation and which has been cited by numerous courts since that time. Melkersen himself has taken multiple cases to the Virginia Supreme Court, including the recent case of Property Damage Specialists, Inc. v. Aaron Rechichar, 790 S.E.2d 237 (Va. 2016) in which Melkersen persuaded the High Court to reverse the trial court on an important legal question involving punitive damages. Melkersen obtained this favorable result for his client despite significant federal law contrary to his client's position.
Melkersen has achieved verdicts and settlements of tens of millions of dollars in favor of his clients, and maintains a reputation for fearlessly and aggressively pursuing even the largest corporations including the likes of Eli Lilly & Company (pharmaceutical manufacturer), Landstar Ranger, Inc. (trucking company), Frito-Lay (snack manufacturer/distributor), and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (vehicle manufacturer/distributor), to name just a few. Of the thousands of lawsuits filed against Volkswagen for what has become known as “dieselgate”, a scandal by which VW equipped vehicles with software designed to deceive emissions tests into concluding that certain VW diesel vehicles emit EPA compliant emissions when the actual emissions emitted are 10-40 times higher than EPA standards allow. Melkersen was lead counsel in the first case that was scheduled to go to trial against Volkswagen Nationwide, in which a settlement was reached on the eve of that trial: the first such settlement Nationwide. Melkersen’s work on the Volkswagen fraud cases has been chronicled in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Fortune, Reuters, Fox News, the Washington Post, the Daily Show, and many other leading publications around the world. Melkersen was also featured in the recent Netflix documentary ‘Dirty Money,’ and personally uncovered Volkswagen’s fake scientific research involving testing on monkeys, a discovery that made headlines worldwide and was condemned by the public and world leaders.
Melkersen’s clients have consistently given him the best possible rating of 5 out of 5 stars on the well-known AVVO lawyer rating service, which has led to Melkersen receiving the prestigious AVVO’s Clients’ Choice Award. Melkersen has also been voted as one of the top 10 personal injury attorneys in Virginia by the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys, and Melkersen was named as one of the Top Attorneys in North America by the New York Who’s Who Directories, and within that organization, Melkersen was named to the “President’s Circle”, an honor reserved for only the top 2% of all attorneys included in that organization. The National Trial Lawyers selected Melkersen as one of the Top 100 Attorneys for personal injury litigation in Virginia. Melkersen is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, The Top Trial Lawyers in America (fewer than 1% of U.S. Lawyers are Members). Melkersen received his law degree from William & Mary School of Law, and his master’s in business administration from Southern Adventist University.
Jeffrey Oetting
Partner
Jeff has been in the energy industry for over 30 years, is a founding partner of Featherwood Capital, and has developed numerous LNG and Power projects worldwide, including terminals in the US, Canada, Europe, and Central America.
He is currently developing the commercial aspects of the Texas based power project. Prior to founding Featherwood Capital Jeff was one of the original partners of one of the largest Natural Gas and Electricity Brokerage firms in North America helping develop regional natural gas and electricity markets.
As part of the team was also involved with projects such as QG2, QG3, QG4 with Qatar Terminals Limited, Ras Gas, Kitimat LNG Project, Panama NG, Elba Island Reactivation and LNG Deliveries, Access Northeast Energy (Bear Head) LNG Facilities, Lake Charles LNG Deliveries, Cove Point Negotiations (Reactivation & Supply), Neptune LNG Deepwater Port (Boston Harbor), Global Energy Bridge TM Projects.
Gregg Oetting
Energy Markets | Geology
Gregg brings over 25 years of experience in energy trading, project development, and commercial strategy across global power and gas markets. His expertise spans physical and financial energy instruments, complex financial modeling, and strategic advisory roles on high-impact LNG and power infrastructure projects.
He has held trading and structuring positions at leading firms including Aquila Energy, Mirant Americas Energy Marketing, RWE North America, Endure Energy, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and DTE Energy. At Aquila, Gregg launched one of the industry’s first power transmission trading portfolios and developed the market’s first hydroelectric power forecasting model. He later managed cross-commodity speculative trading books and transmission hedge portfolios for large-scale generation assets.
At Featherwood, Gregg leads financial modeling and project valuation efforts, building detailed cash flow and risk models for LNG and gas infrastructure under a range of commercial structures and market scenarios. He advises on market fundamentals, gas trading and hedging strategies, and the global LNG value chain, including shipping, contract structures, and offtake positioning.
Gregg served as a lead commercial advisor to QatarGas during negotiations for long-term Sales and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) totaling over 20 million tonnes per annum, and spanning 20-year terms. He also led commercial efforts for a Canadian LNG export project that resulted in executed agreements with multiple European counterparties.
His project development experience includes leading interconnection efforts for two major natural gas power plants, Boardman (Coyote Springs II) in Oregon and APEX in Nevada, totaling 740 MW. He was the principal investigator on a USTDA-sponsored gas distribution feasibility study for the City of Cape Town, which defined the role of power service interruptions in the economics of local gas distribution.
Gregg holds a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Master of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. He is published in multiple peer-reviewed journals, including the the Journal of Hydrology, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, the Society of Economic Petrologists and Minerologists Bulletin, Geological Society of America, and the Austin Geological Society.