Qatar Petroleum buys stake in Total's Guyana assets; government reviewing deal

DUBAI: Qatar Petroleum said on Monday it had agreed a deal with Total SA to acquire a stake in the French firm's two oil and gas blocks offshore Guyana, but the South American country's government said it was still reviewing the deal.

Qatar Petroleum said it would hold 40% of Total's 25% participating interest in the Orinduik block, and 40 percent of Total's 25% participating interest in the neighboring Kanuku. The block's other partners are Tullow Oil Plc, with a 60% participating interest and EcoAtlantic with a 15% interest.

The statement from Qatar Petroleum did not contain any financial terms.

Mark Bynoe, Guyana's director of energy, said the government was "studying" a letter from Total detailing the transaction but did not yet "understand the full implications" of the deal.

"This is not the normal farm-in that we would have seen," Bynoe told reporters on Monday. "At this point in time, it is still substantially unclear for us."

Guyana, which does not currently produce any crude, is on the cusp of an oil boom expected to transform its tiny economy. Exxon Mobil Corp has made 13 offshore discoveries with an estimated 5.5 billion barrels of discovered recoverable resource.