Doris Leblond
OGJ correspondent
PARIS, Dec. 10 -- Esso SAF is soliciting bids for its 90% stake in Esso REP, its exploration and production affiliate in France. Total owns the other 10%.
Esso SAF said it is offering the E&P unit for sale as part of its policy of optimizing assets. Last year Esso REP reported operating profits of 19 million euros; Esso SAF's refining and retailing activities generated operating profits of 116 million euros.
Esso REP started exploring in France in the early 1950s. It discovered Parentis oil field in the Aquitaine basin in 1954. It sold the field in 1997 to Vermilion REP, an affiliate of Canada's Vermilion Energy Trust.
Esso REP currently operates seven oil fields in France and is the country's largest oil producer. It produced a total of 278,000 tonnes of oil in 2003 and expects to produce slightly less than 250,000 tonnes this year.
Two thirds of the production comes from Les Arbousiers, Les Pins, Courbey, Tamaris, and Cazaux fields in the Aquitaine basin of southwestern France. In the same area, the company last year discovered Les Mimosas oil field, which is not yet producing.
In the Paris basin, Esso REP operates France's most prolific oil field, Chaunoy, which last year produced 95,000 tonnes of oil. The company holds interests in two smaller oil fields in the Paris basin—Itteville and Vert-le-Grand—in a joint venture with Total, the operator.
Esso SAF, an 82.89% subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp., owns two refineries—Fos-sur-Mer in the south of France and Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon in Normandy—and a minority interest in a third plus a distribution system. It has worked in France for more than 100 years.