UAE's ADNOC awards Total stakes in two offshore concessions

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said on Sunday it had signed 40-year agreements with France's Total, awarding the company a 20 percent stake in the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession and a 5 percent interest in the Lower Zakum concession.

Total has contributed a participation fee of 4.2 billion dirhams ($1.15 billion) for the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession and a fee of 1.1 billion dirhams ($300 million) for the Lower Zakum concession, ADNOC said in a statement.

The agreements were signed by Sultan al Jaber, group chief executive of ADNOC and Patrick Pouyanne, chairman & CEO of Total.

The agreements have a term of 40 years and are backdated to March 9, 2018, ADNOC said.

"Total brings deep knowledge and understanding of Abu Dhabi's offshore oil and gas fields, as well as specialist expertise and technology that will help accelerate the development of the giant Umm Shaif gas cap," al Jaber said in the statement.

"These agreements ensure Total secure long-term access to significant and competitive hydrocarbon resources that we already know very well," said Pouyanne.

Total is ADNOC's largest and one of its longest international partners, active in Abu Dhabi's oil and gas sector since 1939.

In the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession, Total joins Italy's Eni, which was recently awarded a 10 percent stake. In the Lower Zakum concession, Total joins an Indian consortium, led by ONGC Videsh and Japan's INPEX, with Eni also a stakeholder.

ADNOC also said it is finalising opportunities, with potential partners, for the remaining 10 percent of the available 40 percent stake in the Lower Zakum concession, and for the remaining 10 percent stake in the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession. ADNOC retains a 60 percent majority share in both concessions.

(Reporting By Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Catherine Evans)