Total buys Brazil assets

RIO DE JANEIRO, December 22, 2016 – Total will acquire more than USD 2 billion worth of Petrobras assets, Brazil’s state-run energy company said on Wednesday.

The deal, which will close in February, will see Total take shares in several pre-salt licences, including a 35% operating stake in the Lapa field, which was brought on stream earlier this week using the Cidade de Caraguatatuba floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The French major also agreed to take 22.5% working interest in the Sururu and Berbigao licences.

The two mentioned field are being developed alongside Atapu, which is expected to being production in 2018 via the P-68 FPSO. Two more vessels, P-70 and P-71, are to be deployed over the Berbigao-Sururu-Atapu complex in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

“The two companies will combine their internationally recognised expertise in deep-water to jointly develop solutions for long subsea tiebacks, reservoirs with high carbon dioxide content and digital geosciences data management,” a Total statement released on Wednesday read. The company will also gain 50% of two Bahia state thermal power stations.

With the deal valued at USD 2.2 billion in total, the combined value Petrobras’ divestments over the past two years will hit USD 13 billion, the company’s CFO, Ivan Monteiro, told reporters in Rio de Janeiro.

Wednesday’s arrangement will give Petrobras the option to enter Total’s newly acquired deepwater Block 2 off Mexico. The company will have an option to take 20% stake.

In other news, Brazil’s Odebrecht and Braskem will pay fines in the bribery scandal related to Petrobras. According to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday, contractor Odebrecht will pay at least USD 2.6 billion in penalties, with Braskem forced to pay some USD 636 million and forego on USD 325 million in profits. “Such brazen wrongdoing calls for a strong response from law enforcement,” the statement said. Both entities have pleaded guilty.

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