TOTAL to Expand in East Africa After Project Start in Uganda

13-March-2012

Total SA (FP), Europe’s third-largest oil company, may expand in East Africa after it started a project in Uganda, said Chief Executive Officer Christophe De Margerie.

Total and Cnooc Ltd. last month completed a $2.9 billion transaction with Tullow Oil Plc acquiring stakes in the Lake Albert Basin fields after almost a year of talks. The French company is among oil producers and utilities interested in buying a 20 percent stake in Eni SpA (ENI)’s gas discovery off Mozambique, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

“We are presently focused on Kenya and Tanzania,” de Margerie told reporters in Kuwait today. “For Mozambique, we might look at it at some point in the future. There isn’t anything final there yet.”

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Tullow are among explorers expanding in East Africa after Statoil ASA, BG Group Plc (BG/), Eni and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. found about 70 trillion cubic feet of gas off Mozambique and Tanzania.

PTT Exploration & Production Pcl, Thailand’s only listed oil and gas company, last month trumped Shell with a $1.7 billion bid for local explorer Cove Energy Plc.


Bloomberg