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Wednesday, 07 January, 2009, 17:20 GMT | more >>

Oil deal rejigs 'on the cards'



By Upstream staff 

Continued high oil prices may encourage producing countries to try to renegotiate more existing oil contracts, Christophe de Margerie, the head of French giant Total said today.

"The environment should remain favourable in 2007, with crude prices and refining margins that will remain high," de Margerie told a shareholders meeting.

"These high prices are a double-edged sword as they could encourage some producing countries to renegotiate production sharing agreements with oil companies like us," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Total has agreed to cede control of a project to the Venezuelan government and pay higher tax bills while Russia, Bolivia and the UK have also forced international oil companies to hand over oil field stakes to the state or pay higher taxes.

"In this context, Total should remain all the more disciplined that costs remain under pressure," he said.

During the shareholders meeting, Total chairman Thierry Desmarest reiterated the group's support for de Margerie, who is under formal investigation in two separate French corruption probes - one into the 1997 South Pars gas deal and the other into United Nations sanction-busting in Iraq.

Total has denied any wrongdoing.

"Christophe de Margerie is targeted by a probe and we regret that. The board has expressed its full confidence in him," Desmarest told shareholders.


Friday, 11 May, 2007, 10:19 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 11 May, 2007, 10:19 GMT

Renegotiation possible: Christophe de Margerie told Total shareholders
 

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