French oil giant Total sells share in Cameroon oilfield

French oil giant Total announced Wednesday that it plans to divest mature exploration-production activities in Cameroon, to French independent exploration and production group Perenco for an undisclosed amount. 

A Total refinery Reuters

The deal concerns oilfields which are at a mature stage of development or nearing the end of their lives, which Perenco, which is already present in Cameroon as an operator, specialises in managing.

Today, production from the mature fields operated by Total in Cameroon reaches 40,000 barrels per day (b/d), which represents 0.3 per cent of the group’s total production.

Total intends to remain an actor of the Cameroonian oil industry and “will maintain its refining activities as well as its distribution network of oil products in the country”, according to Jacques Marraud des Grottes, a company spokesperson.

Total’s affiliate Total Cameroun SA is the leading distributor of oil products with 160 service stations, representing 45 per cent of the market. The selling of Total’s interest in Total E&P Cameroun does not concern these downstream activities.

In 2009, Total’s equity production in Africa averaged close to 749,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, accounting for 33 per cent of the group’s total production.

Africa is one of Total’s main production growth focuses. Most of its exploration and production operations, mainly located in Gulf of Guinea countries and in north Africa, have increased in recent years with Total’s entry in exploration permits in other countries, such as Mauritania, Madagascar, Egypt and Côte d’Ivoire.