04-01-2015, 10:42 PM
Total has completed the divestment of its stake in onshore Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 to Aiteo Eastern E&P, a Nigerian company, for $569 million. Together with the recently completed divestments of OML 24 and OML 18, Total’s share of sale proceeds from these three onshore Nigerian blocks amounts to over $1 billion. “The sale of these non-operated onshore blocks in Nigeria is yet another example of our strategy of dynamic portfolio management, achieved at attractive valuations,” said Patrick de La Chevardiere, CFO at Total. “These transactions also reduce our exposure to non-operated blocks onshore Nigeria, and allow us to focus on our core, operated developments, such as the Egina project.”
Total completes $1 billion of onshore divestments in Nigerian blocks
PetroChina (NYSETR), the Asian country’s largest oil major by market value, no longer wants a stake in Canada’s oil sands as the ongoing collapse in crude prices has made the sector less attractive and more costly.
Another Major Getting Out Of The Oil Sands Business
The Russian government is requesting that its state-owned gas giant Gazprom provide discounted gas to the struggling government in Ukraine. The deal seems weird because Russia is also supporting an armed insurgency inside Ukraine, made up of pro-Moscow rebels. The conflict has decimated the Ukrainian economy. So why is Russia suddenly offering to help the country it has spent the past few months undermining?
Russia pushing Gazprom to provide discount gas to Ukraine - Business Insider
A couple of factors have cushioned Canadian oil producers slightly from the collapse in oil prices in the U.S. First, while the dollar price of West Texas Intermediate has fallen 45% since June, the Canadian dollar depreciated against the U.S. dollar by 18% over the same period, and now stands at CAD $1.26 per U.S. dollar. Since the costs of the oil sands producers are denominated in Canadian dollars, the currency depreciation is an important offset. There has also been some narrowing of the spread between synthetic and other crudes. As a result of these factors, the University of Alberta’s Andrew Leach calculated that when WTI was selling for US $50 a barrel, Canadian producers were receiving CAD $60 per barrel of synthetic crude.