Total Reasserts Position As Dominant IOC In Mena On Back Of Abu Dhabi Deal

23 Mar 2018 Issue: 61 / 12 By: Jamie Ingram

Total this week consolidated its position as the dominant IOC in the UAE and is set to emerge as the largest in the Mena region. The firm parted with $1.45bn for stakes in two of the three successors to Abu Dhabi’s Adma offshore concession.

Total’s latest Abu Dhabi deals (MEES, 23 March) reinforce the centrality of the emirate and the wider Mena region to its strategy. Mena is on track to provide more than 30% of Total’s liquids output for the second consecutive year in 2018. Only Italy’s Eni, with its traditional North African heartland, has a comparable share at around 32%, but its output is some 150,000 b/d less (MEES, 16 March).

Abu Dhabi is the single largest source of oil in Total’s portfolio, so walking away from the Adma concession after its 8 March expiry would have been a major blow. At 278,000 b/d in 2017, Abu Dhabi provided 20% of Total’s total output, making it by far the largest single constituent, well ahead of No.2 Angola on 204,000 b/d. (CONTINUED - 1241 WORDS)