Total farms out multiple projects to QP

Total has signed a raft of deals with Qatar Petroleum (QP) to farm out offshore assets in Guyana, Kenya and Namibia.

In Namibia, Total will transfer shares of 30% in block 2913B and 28.33% in block 2912 to QP, the French major announced in an August 27 statement. It will continue to operate both blocks, with interests of 40% and 37.78% respectively. The blocks cover deepwater acreage in the Orange basin. Total plans to sink its first exploration well at block 2913B next year.

In Guyana, Total has agreed to pass on a 40% stake in a subsidiary that holds 25% interests in the Orinduik and Kanuku blocks. Total struck oil at Orinduik earlier this month and is currently drilling a second borehole at the site. Work on a third probe is scheduled to start at Kanuku later this year.

Finally, the company and its Italian partner Eni are set to transfer a combined 25% stake to QP in blocks L11A, L11B and L12 in Kenya’s deep offshore zone, reducing Total's share from 45% to 33.75%. An exploration well is planned at L11B in 2020.

The transactions are pending approval from authorities. Neither Total nor QP has disclosed a target for their completion.

“Following on from our first discovery together and the opening of a new gas province on the Brulpadda prospect in South Africa, the latest agreements are an important milestone in the long-standing partnership between Total and QP,” Total’s upstream president, Arnaud Breuillac, commented.

The French operator divested a 15% stake in its Total E&P Congo division to QP in 2013 and also offloaded a 25% interest in South African licence 11B/12B last year, where a “world-class gas and oil play” was found in February.