During a visit to the Tindouf gas field yesterday, Algeria’s Minister of Energy Mohamed Arkab said Sonatrach is open to a “good compromise” in Total’s plan to acquire Anadarko’s assets in the country.
“We have seen the information on this transaction… Sonatrach will seek a good compromise that is in the interest of the country,” he said.
This follows the minister’s statement on Sunday that the country would block Total’s acquisition where he stated: “Our ministry has contacted Anadarko to get explanations on this information, but so far we got no answer,” adding that “It means there is no contact between Total and Anadarko … we have good relations with Anadarko and we will do the utmost to preserve Algeria’s interests, including using our pre-emption right to block the sale.”
Earlier this month, Occidental Petroleum agreed to sell Anadarko’s assets in Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa to French major Total. The deal would include 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of 2P reserves – 70 percent of which are gas – and 2 billion boe of long–term natural gas resources in Mozambique.
Anadarko’s Algeria assets are estimated to produce 260,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) – over 25 percent of the country’s estimated 1-million-bopd crude production.
