TotalEnergies SE will exit the Canadian oil sands market, according to the company’s Strategy and Outlook presentation on Sept. 28, 2022.
TotalEnergies chief executive officer Patrick Pouyanné said that asset growth potential is not within TotalEnergies’ low carbon strategy and that the company will create a spinoff company. It will retain minority shareholding in the spin-off to temporarily smooth the transition.
The separated assets will include its interest (24.58%) in the Suncor Energy-operated Fort Hills mining project, its 50% interest in the ConocoPhillips-operated Surmont thermal project—both in the Alberta region—as well as midstream and trading-related activities.
Generated cash flow from the assets for 2022 is $1.5 billion, Pouyanne said. In 2020, the French energy company took a $9.3 billion impairment on the value of its oil sands assets.
The sale will be submitted to a vote at the next annual shareholders meeting in May 2023.
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).