CALGARY – French energy giant Total says it is writing off $9.3-billion (US$7 billion) worth of oilsands assets in Alberta and cancelling its membership in the Calgary-based Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
The Paris-based company says it now considers oil reserves with high production costs that are to be produced more than 20 years in the future to be “stranded” given its carbon reduction targets because the resource may not be produced by 2050.
It says it will take writedowns worth $7.3 billion related to its 24.6 per cent ownership in the Fort Hills oilsands mine operated by partner Suncor Energy Inc. and its 50 per cent stake in the Surmont thermal oilsands project operated by partner ConocoPhillips.
Total says it will also write off $2.0 billion in other oilsands assets, along with US$800 million on its liquefied natural gas assets in Australia.
In February, Suncor took a $2.8 billion writedown on its 53-per-cent stake in Fort Hills because of prospects for lower future oil prices.
Total says it is leaving CAPP because of a “misalignment” between the organization’s public positions and those expressed in Total’s Climate Ambition statement announced in May.