PARIS (Reuters) -France’s TotalEnergies and Japan’s Inpex Corp said that they had agreed to sell their interests in Angola’s Block 14 B.V. to Angolan Company Somoil for an undisclosed sum.
Angola Block 14 B.V, which is owned by TotalEnergies Holdings International B.V with a 50.01% stake and Inpex Angola Block 14 Ltd with a 49.99% stake, holds a 20% interest in block 14 in Angola and a 10% interest in block 14K.
Net production from Block 14 B.V. was 9,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2021, TotalEnergies said.
“By divesting this interest in mature fields, TotalEnergies is implementing its strategy to highgrade its oil portfolio, focusing on assets with low costs and low emissions” said Henri-Max Ndong-Nzue, Senior Vice President Africa of TotalEnergies Exploration & Production.
For Inpex, Japan’s biggest oil and gas explorer, the move is part of an ongoing review of its asset portfolio amid the global trend toward decarbonisation, a company spokesperson said.
Inpex said in October that it had sold all its interests in the offshore D.R. Congo Block where it had been engaged in the development and production of crude oil, following an exit from Venezuela’s oil and gas assets earlier that month.
“Our core geographic areas for exploration and production (E&P) are Japan, Australia, Indonesia and Abu Dhabi, with an additional exploration focus on Barents Sea in Norway,” the Inpex spokesperson said.
“We will not sell all E&P assets in other geographic areas, but we will continue to review to optimize our asset portfolio,” they added.
In an effort to boost cleaner energy assets, Inpex said in December it will buy an offshore wind power generation company in the Netherlands from Mitsubishi Corp, and that it will purchase a stake in the Muara Laboh geothermal power project in Indonesia.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon in Paris and Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
