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By Sami Zaptia:
London, 2 March 2018:
French oil giant Total has acquired US oil company Marathon’s 16.33 percent stake in the Waha concession in Libya for US$ 450 million.
Total says this will give it access to reserves and resources in excess of 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and immediate production of around 50,000 boe/day. It will also give it an exploration potential in the Sirte Basin concession across the area of 53,000 km sq.
“This acquisition is in line with Total’s strategy to reinforce its portfolio with high quality and low-technical cost assets whilst bolstering our historic strength in the Middle East and North Africa region,” said Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total.
“It builds on the Group’s long-term presence in Libya, a country with very large oil and gas resources, and demonstrates our commitment to continue supporting the recovering oil and gas industry of the country.”
Total said that the Waha Concessions currently produce around 300.000 boe/d, and due to the ongoing restart of the existing installations and the resumption of development drilling, the output is expected to ramp up and exceed 400.000 boe/d by the end of the decade.
The NOC (59.18%), Total (16.33%), ConocoPhillips (16.33%) and Hess (8.16%) jointly own the Waha Concessions. The Waha Oil Company, a 100% NOC owned entity, operates the asset.
Total has been present in Libya since 1954. In 2017, the group’s production was 31.500 boe/d. This production comes from the offshore Al Jurf field (Total, 37.5%) and the El Sharara onshore area (Total, 15% on block ex-NC 115 and 12% on block ex-NC 186).
