TOT TOTAL SE

By Sarah McFarlane

Total SA's 9FP.FR) latest divestment plan will be focused on upstream assets, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said Thursday.

Speaking on the French energy giant's second-quarter earnings call, he said: "We announced we'll divest at least $5 billion of assets with the majority--more than $3 billion--coming from upstream on this period, 2019-2020."

Total will look to reduce the number of countries it operates in, quitting those with lower revenue and production, he said.

The $5 billion divestment plan will also include infrastructure such as pipelines and reductions to Total stakes in renewable energy projects, which will enable the company to remain agile if other acquisition opportunities arise, said Mr. Pouyanne.

"While most of our peers concentrate their capex spending on U.S. shale, we are looking to the rest of the world and have been first to move in Brazil, on Maersk Oil, and Libya, on Engie portfolio, and now on Anadarko's African assets."

Since the start of 2015, Total has sold more than $16 billion in assets.

Write to Sarah McFarlane at sarah.mcfarlane@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 25, 2019 11:41 ET (15:41 GMT)

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