Total to Sell Nigeria Oil Stake to Sinopec

French oil firm Total has announced the sale of its 20% stake in a Nigerian offshore oilfield to China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), subject to approval by the Nigerian authorities.

The $2.5 billion cash deal for OML 138 block includes the Usan field that started production in February 2012.

"The transaction is aligned with Total's active portfolio management. Usan accounts for less than 10% of the Group's equity production in Nigeria," said Yves-Louis Darricarrère, President Upstream at Total.

"This sale of an asset operated from a minority position will allow us to focus our resources on the material growth opportunities in Total's portfolio," he added.

Total say the Usan field contains 42 wells and a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel that is one of the largest vessels of its type in the world, designed to process 180,000 barrels per day store 2 million barrels of crude.