$60 million bribe: Total CEO faces jail

It is alleged that from 1995 to 2004, Total SA made about $60 million in bribe payments to an Iranian official in order to obtain oil rights in three oil and gas fields, according to the deferred prosecution agreement.

The Paris prosecutor recommended that the company and its CEO, Christophe de Margerie, stand trial on corruption charges along with two other people, the office said in a statement. The investigating judge now has to decide whether a trial should go ahead.

De Margerie was placed under formal investigation in 2007 by French judges looking into allegations Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, paid bribes to win contracts signed in 1997 with National Iranian Oil Co. to develop South Pars, one of the world’s largest natural gas fields.

De Margerie took over as head of Total in February 2007. Just over a month after he took the helm, he was placed under formal investigation for alleged misuse of funds and corrupting foreign civil servants after being held in custody for two days for questioning.

Total to start exploring in offshore Libya

Total is aiming to start offshore exploratory drilling in Libya May for gas, in a further sign the OPEC member's energy industry is returning to normal after the 2011 war.

Speaking at the Libya Oil & Gas Summit in Tripoli, Bernard Avignon, Managing Director of Total Exploration and Production in Libya, said the company was waiting for a drilling rig that was undergoing tests in Croatia. He added the cost of drilling the two exploration wells would be $130 million for this year.

Total, which operates in Libya through the Mabrouk joint venture with the state National Oil Corporation, currently produces 41,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil at its offshore al-Jurf field and 35,000 bpd at its onshore Mabrouk field. He said Total also wanted to do more seismic studies in the area around the Mabrouk oilfield.

Total announces significant oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico

Total has announced a significant oil discovery at its North Platte prospect on Garden Banks Block 959 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The discovery well encountered several hundred feet of net oil pay in Lower Tertiary sands which included several high-quality intervals.
Total estimates this discovery can have a potential of several hundred million barrels of oil. Further appraisal will be needed to confirm its size and commerciality.
Total is in a strategic alliance with Cobalt International Energy to explore for oil in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The North Platte discovery is the first Lower Tertiary Wilcox formation well drilled by the Alliance. The results of the well confirm the northern extension of the Wilcox formation and the presence of liquid hydrocarbons. Therefore, this validates the major potential of this new exploration area of the Gulf of Mexico in which Total holds a substantial acreage position with several follow-on prospects.
North Platte is located in a water depth of approximately 4,400 feet (1,340 m) and was drilled to a total depth of approximately 34,500 feet (10,520 m).

Total holds a 40% interest in the North Platte discovery along with Cobalt (60%, operator).

NNPC’s Funding Delays Threaten Nigeria’s 4mbpd Target

The Federal Government’s crude oil growth projections of 4 million barrels per day (mbpd) and reserves of 40 billion barrels may remain a mirage as multi-billion dollar oil and gas projects expected to increase output and create thousands of jobs, are said to have been bungled by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The projects include ExxonMobil’s Erha North and phase two of the Satellite field development project, Shell’s Bonga Southwest and North-west, the multi-billion dollar Nsikko project, Total’s Egina project and the Funiwa Gas project, some of which had been in the pipeline for more than five years.

The reluctance by the NNPC to commit to the projects has prompted interested investors to pull out, while some of the projects have been abandoned.

UAE's first ever oil and gas museum attracts visitors

Visitors to this year's Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) have been treated to the UAE's first ever oil and gas museum.

The ADIPEC Museum is a unique collection of photographs, equipment, maps and documents that illustrates the history of the local oil industry from its humble beginnings with the signing of the Red Line Agreement in 1928 to the present day.

Hosted in an outdoor marquee at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, the 500-square-metre museum also has a chronological display of photographs of the Abu Dhabi region dating back to the 1930s. The photographs illustrate the growth of Abu Dhabi in the last 70 years from a modest fishing community struggling in the wake of a dwindling pearl diving industry into the 8th largest oil exporter in the world.

The ADIPEC Museum was assembled over the past year and offers visitors a unique opportunity to look at materials that have never been seen before in a single public display. The curators poured over 17,000 photographs from 15 local and international archives.

The museum is a notable collaborative effort between international oil companies. Four of the seven original signatories of Abu Dhabi's first oil concession agreement of 1939, namely: ExxonMobil, Total, Shell and BP, are significant contributors to the museum.

Total confirms sale of some Nigerian Assets

Total has confirmed that the firm was in talks to sell its assets in Nigeria, worth about $2.4 billion. However, Total CEO, Christophe de Margerie, declined to name the potential buyer or value of the deal but saying he would not deny the earlier report about the sale. According to him, “it doesn't mean we are scared and intend to start some kind of walk out of Nigeria...Total is happy to develop its projects in Nigeria”.

Nigeria is Africa's largest crude oil exporter and oil companies operating there have long had to deal with attacks on their pipelines and staff, with the country's worst floods in 50 years seriously affecting their output in recent weeks.

Total declared force majeure in mid-October on gas supplies to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas’ (NLNG) liquefaction plant, saying it had stopped oil and gas production from Oil Mining Lease (OML) 58, which was losing 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil equivalent, in which it has a 40-per-cent stake.