Total is reportedly eyeing a sale of its operated stake in the deepwater Laggan-Tormore oil and gas field west of Shetland, although the rumours are unsurprisingly not being commented on by the French operator.

According to Reuters, citing ‘banking sources’, Total is hoping to get up to US $1.5 billion for its 80% operated stake in the field, located 140 km north-west of the Shetland Islands in the UK sector. Although it would be surprising to see the company entirely exit the project, it may well be looking to reduce its exposure to the project, which is already behind schedule and for which a related oil rim project also recently got put on the backburner (see DI, 17 February 2015, page 1).

Forecast Capex on Laggan-Tormore has been put at up to $5.5 billion for the first phase alone, with various nearby satellites also planned for tie-in to the field infrastructure in due course.

The company aims to complete the deal in June, according to Reuters, which added that Total would only say that it does not “comment on market rumours”. Total recently revealed in its financial results that it is cutting $4 billion from its Capex plans, mostly from the upstream sector, along with other savings that will overall see it reduce overall group spending by around $8 billion.

Laggan-Tormore is a gas condensate field expected onstream by the third quarter of this year, and is a subsea-to-shore development with peak production expected to eventually hit 93,000 boe/d. It holds reserves estimated at up to 4 Bboe.

Total’s partner in Laggan-Tormore is Danish player DONG with 20%. The field lies in 600 m (1,969 ft) of water in UK blocks 206/2 and 205/5a.

  • Total is still understood to be looking for a buyer for its 20% stake in the deepwater Usan oil field in OML 138 offshore Nigeria. The company has BNP Paribas working to find potential buyers, following the collapse last year of a proposed sale of the stake to China’s Sinopec for US $2.5 billion.

Usan has been producing since early 2012 via a spread-moored FPSO designed to process up to 180,000 b/d, and receives oil from more than 40 subsea wells. It lies around 100 km offshore and is operated by ExxonMobil, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) the concession holder. Other partners include Chevron, and Nexen (which is owned by China’s CNOOC Ltd.).