Total To Sell 10% Stake In Shah Deniz Project To Turkey's TPAO For $1.5 Bln

(RTTNews) - French oil and gas giant Total SA (TTA.L, TTFNF.PK, TOT) said Friday that it has signed a deal to sell its entire 10 percent stake in the Shah Deniz field and the South Caucasus Pipeline in Azerbaijan to Turkey's state-owned oil and gas company Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi or TPAO for $1.5 billion. Total noted that sale is part of its efforts to focus its investments on more strategic assets.

The offshore Shah Deniz field is located about 100 km southeast of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, in the Caspian Sea and covers about 860 square kilometers, with water depths ranging from 50 to 550 meters.

The first phase of the field started up in 2006 and is currently producing 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. A second development phase was sanctioned at the end of 2013.

The Shah Deniz field is operated by British oil giant BP plc (BP, BP.L, BP-UN.TO) with a 28.83 percent stake. Other partners in the field are State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic or SOCAR that holds a 16.67 percent stake, Norway's Statoil ASA (STO) with a 15.5 percent stake, Total, Russia's OAO Lukoil (LUKOY.PK) as well as Iran's Nico with stakes of 10 percent each, and TPAO with a 9 percent stake.

Commenting on the deal, Michael Borrell, Senior Vice-President Continental Europe and Central Asia at Total's Exploration and Production said, "This sale is another step forward in achieving our asset sale program. Following this operation, the Group will have sold nearly $16 billion worth of asset since 2012, in line with its $15-20 billion asset sale target."

Total said that in Azerbaijan, it remains operator of the Absheron offshore field with a 40 percent stake. A significant gas and condensate discovery was made in 2011 on Absheron and Total is now conducting studies to prepare the field development plan.

TOT is trading at $69.91, up $0.13 or 0.18 percent on a volume of 106,055 shares.