Total is renegotiating parts of a deal it agreed with London-based explorer Tullow Oil to buy a stake in Tullow’s Ugandan oil fields, the chief executive of the French oil major said today.
“Because of the time that has been lost…we have to be careful not to enter into licences with too short life so we are renegotiating before we start, before we pay. Just to be sure that we can continue with the exploration which is needed to develop [the fields],” Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie told reporters at a briefing.
Tullow Oil is waiting for formal approval from the Ugandan government before it can proceed with a plan to sell stakes in its oil blocks to Total and China’s CNOOC to embark on a $10 billion project to develop the East African country’s oil reserves.
