PARIS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Total hailed the renewal of its oilfield concession in AbuDhabi as a "blockbuster" on Thursday and did not deny the Frenchoil major may have coughed up over $2 billion to sign the deal.
The Paris-based company raised pressure on its rivals whenit became the first oil major to sign a deal on Jan. 29 with theAbu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for a 10 percent stake inthe emirate's biggest oilfields.
Asked during an earnings presentation on Thursday if hecould confirm the company had paid a 'signing bonus' of $2.2billion to Abu Dhabi for the stake as mentioned by someanalysts, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said: "I won't revealthe secrets of this contract. But $2 billion for 2 billionbarrels, it's just $1 per barrel, that's not very expensive."
Four oil majors -- ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP -- had each held 9.5 percentequity stakes in the ADCO concession since the 1970s and nineAsian and Western firms bid for stakes.
As of Thursday, the oil companies did not have anyindication from ADNOC on the status of their revised bids afterthey were asked to raise their signature bonus, which is anadvance payment on assuming the stake in the concession, oneUAE-based source said.
"The ball is in ADNOC's court now. But in the currentclimate, no company would agree to pay such a high price asbeing reported that Total has paid," another source said.
The fields in Abu Dhabi produce 1.6 million barrels per dayand are expected to reach 1.8 million bpd from 2017, which wouldaccount for six percent of Total's output.
"In the pharmaceutical industry, they have blockbusters.This is our blockbuster, and it will last for 40 years,"Pouyanne said.
"We didn't hesitate one second. The impact of this signaturegoes well beyond the price of this asset, it was widely noticedand has raised our reputation in the Middle East," he said.
ADNOC officials could not be reached for comment. BP andShell declined to comment. (Reporting by Michel Rose in Paris, Rania El Gamal in Dubai andStanley Carvalho in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Vincent Baby)
