Total SA NEWS

Qatar Petroleum has entered into a 'farm-in agreement with Total to acquire a 45% participating interest in blocks CI-705 and CI-706, located in the Ivorian-Tano basin, offshore the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire. The two blocks cover an area of approximately 3,200 square kilometres, and present multi-target hydrocarbon prospects in water depths ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 metres, 35 kilometres from shore and about 100 kilometres from nearby Foxtrot, Espoir and Baobab fields.

Total will no longer pursue the acquisition of Occidental’s assets in Ghana, following a snag in the sale of assets in Algeria. When Occidental Petroleum completed one of the largest oil mergers and acquisitions of the past few years, buying Anadarko Petroleum and assuming its debt in a transaction valued at a total of US$55 billion, Occidental had signed a binding agreement to sell Anadarko’s assets.

Equinor, Total and Shell intend to set up a joint-venture company and initially invest close to NOK 6.9 billion (USD 682.3m/EUR 629.4m), with some 57% of the amount going to Norwegian contractors. Northern Lights is part of the Norwegian full-scale CCS project which will include capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from up to two industrial plants.

Following its rivals in the energy business, French energy major Total today revealed plans of cutting down carbon emissions, setting the aim of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. A statement from Chairman and CEO, Total read, “Energy markets are changing, driven by climate change, technology and societal expectations. Total is committed to helping solve the dual challenge of providing more energy with fewer emissions,”.

French supermajor Total yesterday informed that 14 workers including two of its staff have been diagnosed positive for the novel coronavirus in the Congo Republic. The energy major however denied operations at the site being affected. Congo has so far recorded 200 positive coronavirus cases and eight deaths since the very first case on March 15. Total said its pandemic plan was activated after the first case to ensure smoother operations.

French oil supermajor, Total has agreed to purchase Tullow Oil’s full stake in jointly-held onshore oil fields in Uganda for $575 million. Tullow Oil yesterday informed that it is looking to raise $1 billion this year in a bid to diminish its $2.8 billion of debt. The deal is now subject to the two companies inking a final tax agreement with the Ugandan authorities and a go-ahead from Tullow’s shareholders.

Sutton-based engineering, construction and services, Subsea 7 has landed a contract to deliver services to support Chevron's Anchor field operations, in the US Gulf of Mexico. The contract requires Subsea 7 to offer project management, engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF) components, flying leads, and jumpers. The Anchor oil and gas field is jointly owned by Chevron (62.86%) and Total (37.14%).

Oil supermajor, Total today informed about selling assets in Brunei, Sierra Leone and Liberia, valued at more than $400 million. While Total's wholly-owned subsidiary in Brunei, Total E&P Deep Offshore Borneo BV was soled to Shell, its marketing and services businesses in Liberia and Sierra Leone was sold off to Conex Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd.

Total's acquisition of Occidental Petroleum Corp’s​​​​​ assets in Ghana are being held up due to capital gains tax claim for about $500 million. Occidental is trying to get regulatory clearance for this deal and tax bill is an issue yet to be resolved. Selling Total its assets is a part of Occidental's plan to sell out at least $15 billion of assets by mid-2020.

Oil supermajor, Total has awarded a contract renewal to CGG's Geoscience division, to continue operations at its Dedicated Processing Center (DPC) in France. The contract renewal will extend CGG's activities for the next five years. The two firms have been collaborating at the DPC since 2006. The DPC has been recognized for excellence, especially in 4D processing.

Apache Corp and Total’s major oil discovery on Tuesday in Suriname sent Apache’s shares soaring to nearly 27%. Apache said the discovery conformed to a geologic model with 73 meters of oil pay and 50 meters of light oil and gas condensate pay, with more appraisal planning underway. Apache’s contract with Total included $100 million upfront payment and expenditures sustained in exploration.

After Total, BP has also come together with the companies across the plastic value chain to rapidly improve the recycling technology. “This is an exciting step towards a circular economy for the polyester industry”, says BP. The cross country partners of BP are Danone SA and Unilever NV, and recycling specialist ALPLA. However, BP has been already working on a technology called Infinia which is used for polyethylene terephthalate.

Oil supermajor, Total has inked an agreement with Angolian state-owned Sonangol to buy stakes in two blocks of the Kwanza Basin, offshore Angola. The deal will gain Total ownership to 50% working interest in Block 20/11, and 80% working interest in Block 21/09. While the payment of $400m to Sonangol will come upon completion of the transaction, another $100m will be funded after reaching a final investment decision (FID).

Emerson Automation Solution has secured the monitoring contract for the Tyra gas field redevelopment project from Total E&P Denmark. Emerson will deploy its wellhead pressure monitoring technology to the gas field in the North Sea, in order to improve safety during the project redevelopment. Total initiated the redevelopment of the facility due to seabed subsidence.

Total and Reliance Industries might not bid for acquiring India's BPCL. Further, BP wants to explore the offerings before making a decision to decide for bidding. The Indian government has decided to sell 53.29% stakes of oil refining and marketing company BPCL. The firm accounts for 15% of the total installed refining capacity of the nation. Saudi Aramco might alone bid for the stakes or may have another partner, ADNOC.

German clean-tech company Sunfire and Total have joined hands for a pilot project in Germany. The companies will try to produce methanol from renewables and carbon dioxide at the Leuna refinery. A plant is being constructed at the refinery which will be completed next year and production is expected to start in 2021. The plant will produce 500 tonnes of green methanol in the first three years.

British E&P major, Tullow Oil has made another discovery on the Orinduik license, offshore Guyana. This marks the second in the line of discoveries for Tullow Oil in its Jethro-1 exploration well, the first discovery made back in August 2019. The exploration well was drilled to a final depth of 2,175m using Stena Forthdrillship. The Orinduik Block is operated by Tullow, where Total and Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas are partners.

Total, Novatek and other shareholders of the project have given an agreement on the final investment decision for Arctic LNG 2. This project is a major LNG development on the Gydan peninsula, Russia. The production capacity of the project is expected to be 19.8 MM tons per year. Total has 10% interest in Arctic LNG 2, Novatek 60%, CNOOC 10%, CNPC 10% and a Mitsui-Jogmec consortium, Japan Arctic LNG 10%.