Total takes slice of Chevron oil find in the Gulf of Mexico

Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A French energy company said it was setting a deeper footprint in the U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico by taking a minority stake in a Chevron-controlled field.

For an undisclosed sum, the French supermajor Total said it bought the 12.5 percent interest in the four blocks covering the Anchor discovery from Samson Offshore Anchor. Chevron declared a discovery at the Anchor reservoir in 2014 and went ahead with an appraisal program to evaluate development options.

Arnaud Breuillac, the president of exploration and production at Total, said the acquisition follows the entry into seven other prospects off the southern U.S. coast.

"The entry in the Anchor discovery further increases Total's footprint in deepwater Gulf of Mexico," he said in a statement.

Chevron is the operator at Anchor with a controlling interest.

In September, Total said it was able to capture more opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico through an agreement with Chevron in a deal that gave it between 25 percent and 40 percent of the interest in several fields.

The federal U.S. government said it expects total production from the Gulf of Mexico to average 1.7 million barrels per day this year and increase by another 100,000 bpd in 2019 an expectations of the start up of new fields.

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 17 percent of U.S. oil production and 5 percent of the natural gas. Analysis published earlier this month by consultant group Wood Mackenzie said some deepwater assets in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico can break even with a price of oil below $50 per barrel, making them somewhat more competitive than shale.

Total has been wading further into deepwater basins. Production started at the Libra field off the coast of Brazil in November, where floating production infrastructure could produced about 150,000 bpd.

In August, it bought off the oil unit of Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk for $7.45 billion, taking on $2.5 billion of the debt held by Maersk Oil in the process.

Fourth quarter results for the supermajor are expected in early February.