TOTAL S.A. TOT announced that it has divested its interest in onshore Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 to Aiteo Eastern E&P, a Nigerian company, for $569 million. Earlier, TOTAL completed divestments of OML 24 and OML 18. The sale proceeds from these three onshore Nigerian blocks exceeded $1 billion.
The company is working on its strategy to monetize non-core assets and concentrate more on its core operated developments. TOTAL generally uses the proceeds to acquire more assets, which are likely to offer more lucrative returns to the company.
TOTAL is also looking forward to sell its Usan deepwater oil field in the Nigeria Oil Prospecting Lease (OML) 138 and is seeking suitable buyers. TOTAL is operating in Nigeria for nearly five decades and produced 257,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in 2014 from its Nigerian assets. Post divesture, the company will focus more on its Egina development in Nigeria.
After achieving its 2012–2014 asset sale target, TOTAL has set a goal of divesting assets worth $10 billion in the 2015–2017 time period. The company aims to divest assets worth $5 billion in 2015 and more than 20% of its divestment goal is achieved through the Nigerian assets divestment.
The sharp drop in oil prices in the second half of 2014 has impacted majority of the oil majors across the globe. The oil majors have lowered their capital expenditures and incorporate cost savings initiatives to cope with the difficult times. TOTAL has also done its bit to weather the difficulty posed by the falling oil prices. (read:TOTAL to Cut 2015 Capex 10% to Weather Falling Oil Prices)
TOTAL S.A. currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Other better-ranked stocks in the space are Sasol Ltd. SSL, PetroChina Co. Ltd. PTR and Petrobras Argentina SA PZE. All of these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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