Total to sell more assets, cuts oil output target

French oil company Total is to sell more assets and cut costs to generate more cash and is to revamp exploration plans after reducing its oil production target.

Total, which has struggled with production outages in Libya, Kazakhstan and Nigeria, on Monday cut its 2017 output goal to 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from a previous 3 million.

France’s biggest company by market value and the West’s fourth biggest oil and gas group launched a “high-risk, high-reward” drilling strategy two years ago. But this has had disappointing results as high-cost investments did not lead to large discoveries.

“We have more than 15 major projects to fuel the future growth … Two thirds of those projects are operated by us so that gives us confidence we will achieve the targets,” chief financial officer Patrick de La Chevardiere said at Total’s investor day in London on Monday.

Total, like other big oil companies, has been under pressure from

Total resumes $2.5bn Nigerian deepwater oil field sale

France’s Total SA, Europe’s second largest oil company, has put one of its offshore Nigerian oil fields up for sale again, the company said, after a 2012 deal with Sinopec Corp failed, reports Reuters.

Total has hired BNP Paribas to find buyers for its Usan deepwater oil field located in Oil Prospecting Lease (OML) 138, which could be worth about $2.5 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.

“We have selected an advisor to pursue the sale process of Usan,” a spokeswoman for Total said.

BNP Paribas declined to comment.

Usan is not expected to be an easy sale for Total because deepwater exploration requires significant investment and the new owner’s returns could be limited if the Federal Government raises taxes on foreign investor profits as part of a

Total developing projects as Shell sales show IOCs views diverge

International Oil Companies (IOCs) playing in the Nigerian oil and gas space are showing divergent views on the attractiveness of assets as some are moving on with developments while others divest.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc , Europe’s largest oil company, said yesterday it is advancing plans to sell four fields in Nigeria, to meet a $15 billion asset-sales plan, even as French Oil major Total told BusinessDay that it was moving ahead with projects in the country, despite the uncertainty from the late passage of the PIB.

Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd. said assets under consideration for sale are OMLs 18, 24, 25, 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, although the process has not yet concluded.

The Anglo-Dutch company and partner, Eni SpA  are close to selling the Nigerian assets for about