Total and
Tullow Oil intends to reduce their stakes in Kenya’s first oil development with
a joint sale that could see Tullow exit completely amid uncertainty over the
project’s launch, banking and industry sources said.
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| Tullow Oil exploration drilling site in Lokichar, Kenya |
The two oil and gas producers have hired French bank Natixis to
run the joint sale process for Blocks 10 BA, 10 BB and 13T in the South
Lokichar Basin, the sources said.
London-listed Tullow, which operates the project, last year
indicated it intended to sell up to 20% of its 50% stake in the blocks.
However, the sources said it is now willing to sell the entire
stake after disappointing exploration results in Guyana and production problems
in Ghana that prompted the ousting of its chief executive and wiped out nearly
half of the company’s market value.
French oil major Total, meanwhile, aims to sell up to half of
its 25% stake in the Kenyan project, the sources said.
Tullow, Total and Natixis declined to comment.
The entire project is valued at between $1.25 billion to $2
billion, but it is hard to be precise because the development has yet to
receive a final investment decision (FID), two of the sources said.
Tullow this month said it was still targeting FID by the end of
2020, with production starting in 2022, describing the timeline as
“challenging”.
The fields already produce about 2,000 barrels of oil per day as
part of an early production system.
The oil is trucked from Turkana to the port city of Mombasa. A
first cargo of 250,000 barrels was shipped on a tanker last August.
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