French firm Total is reportedly in discussions to pursue the sale of some of its oil and gas assets in the British North Sea.
The company is negotiating with Albion Energy and First Alpha Energy Capital and the talks are at an advanced stage, reported Reuters citing two undisclosed industry sources.
The assets for consideration include Golden Eagle and Dumbarton, in which Total owns 32% and 30%, respectively.
In July this year, the news agency reported that Total was mulling the sale of a third of its stake in the Laggan Tormore gas field along with other assets in the North Sea for a total estimated value of $1.5bn.
The transaction included interests in several smaller fields the French company purchased as part of the $4.95bn acquisition of the oil and gas arm of A.P. Moller-Maersk.
In August, Total E&P UK signed an agreement to offload a 42.25% interest in the Bruce field and a 25% interest in the Keith field in the UK North Sea to Serica UK.
According to one of the sources, Albion is fully financed through a hedge fund. The company is a UK-based firm linked to Heritage Oil founder executive Tony Buckingham.
First Alpha was established in 2016 and has former BP and OMV manager David Latin and its advisors former BG chief Frank Chapman and former OMV chief financial officer David Davies as its founders.
The move comes less than a fortnight after the news agency reported that Chrysaor is looking to acquire Chevron’s oil and gas assets in the UK North Sea.
Another major oil and gas company that is exploring the sale of North Sea assets is US firm ConocoPhillips. The firm began exclusive talks last month with UK’s Ineos for the potential sale.
In two separate unrelated developments, Total has reached an agreement to sell a 2% participating interest in Block 53 onshore Oman to Tethys Oil and also agreed to acquire a further 10% stake in the Lapa field, in Block BM-S-9 offshore Brazil from Petrobras.
