Offshore staff

PARIS – Total has signed production sharing agreements with state-owned Petroci for three new ultra-deepwater licenses off Cote d’Ivoire.

The company will operate the CI-514 license with a 54% interest, in partnership with Canadian Natural Resources International (36%) and Petroci (10%).

Total will also have a 45% interest in the CI-515 and CI-516 licenses, the remainder held by Anadarko (45%) and Petroci (10%). On these two blocks, Total will become operator if there is a commercial discovery.

All the permits are around 100 km (62 mi) offshore and cover an area of 3,200 sq km (1,235 sq mi) in water depths ranging from 2,000-3,000 m (6,562-9,842 ft).

The work program includes a 3D seismic survey across the entire acreage and one well on each block during the initial three-year exploration period.

Total already operates Côte d’Ivoire’s CI-100 deep offshore license with a 60% interest. Here a 1,000-sq km (386-sq mi) seismic campaign was initiated at the end of last year to finalize 3D studies over the permit, with first exploration drilling scheduled for end-2012.

Marc Blaizot, Total’s SVP, Exploration, said of the latest awards: “The so-called Abrupt Margin theme that we will be exploring in this acreage is a core growth driver for the future. In particular, we are targeting the same theme in exploration licenses in French Guiana, where a promising discovery has already been made, and in Mauritania.”  

02/17/2012