UPDATE: GDF Suez To Hold 8%, Total 17% Of Khvalinskoye Devt
October 06 2009 - 7:29AM
Dow Jones News
French energy companies Total SA (TOT) and GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR)
Tuesday said they have signed a draft agreement to acquire half of
the Kazakh national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas' 50% stake in
the Caspian Sea Khvalinskoye exploration license, building up their
respective positions in the region.
Total plans to take a 17% stake and GDF Suez 8%, the companies
said.
A spokeswoman for GDF Suez declined to say how much the
companies would pay for the stake. Total didn't immediately return
a request for comment.
Russia's Lukoil (LKOH.RS) is the operator of the Russian-Kazakh
project, in which it has 50%.
The agreement gives Total "the opportunity to further strengthen
its ties with KazMunaiGas," said Yves-Louis Darricarrere, Total's
head of exploration and production, in a statement.
Total and the Kazakh national company are already partners in
developing Kazakhstan's giant Kashagan oil field, also in the
Caspian sea.
The move also would open a new front in Total's growing links
with Lukoil. Both companies have said they want to develop their
partnership, under which Lukoil recently took a stake in a
Total-operated refinery in the Netherlands.
Last month, Lukoil said it and Total were considering joint
exploration projects in Kazakhstan, Colombia and western
Africa.
For GDF Suez, the move underscores the company's strategy of
boosting its exploration and production activities to increase the
amount of gas it produces.
The Khvaliskoye project straddles the border between Russia and
Kazakhstan, a GDF Suez spokeswoman said.
GDF Suez said the project would be its first in Russian
exploration and production.
"It will also reinforce GDF Suez's position in the exploration
and production activities in the Caspian region, following the
recent acquisition of a 20% stake in the Absheron license in
Azerbaijan," GDF Suez also said.
The agreement heralds an "exclusive negotiation phase" and is
"subject to relevant partners' and authorities' approvals," GDF
Suez said.
-By Adam Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 40171756;
adam.mitchell@dowjones.com