Total snaps up share of Yemen production blocks

Total has production interests in Yemen's two primary production basins.

French oil major Total has announced the acquisition of a 36% interest in the Block 72 production sharing agreement in Yemen. Operated by DNO Yemen AS (DNO), the 1,821-square-kilometre license is located in the southern part of the Masila Basin. The acquisition is subject to the approval of Yemen’s Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources.

Total and the original partners (DNO, TG Holdings Yemen Inc., Ansan Wikfs (Hadramaut) Limited and The Yemen Company (TYC) plan to drill an exploration well in the fourth quarter of this year.

With this acquisition, Total pursues its exploration and production activities in Yemen, in high-potential geological basins that offer a close fit with existing projects.

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Present in Yemen since 1987, Total currently has local operated production of 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The Group holds production interests in the country’s two main oil basins, as operator of East Shabwa Block 10 in the Masila Basin with a 28.57% interest and as a partner with a 15% stake in Jannah Block 5 in the Marib Basin.

In addition, Total has onshore exploration interests through the acquisition of a 40% interest in Blocks 69 and 71 in 2007 and a 30.9% interest in Block 70 in 2008. Total became the operator of Block 70 in 2010, increasing its stake to 50.1%.

Total is also the main shareholder (39.62%) in Yemen LNG, which operates a liquefaction plant in Balhaf, on the southern coast. The plant started production in 2009 and is supplied by feed gas from Block 18 in central Yemen’s Marib region via a 320-kilometre gas pipeline. The two trains have a total production capacity of 6.7 million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year.