LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - French oil major Total (PA:TOTF) has agreed to sell a 20 percent stake in its North Sea Laggan-Tormore project to Britain's SSE (L:SSE) for 565 million pounds, less than the $1.5 billion (961 million pounds) it had anticipated.
The deal includes 20 percent shares in four gas fields located in the resource-rich West of Shetland area and a gas plant, but the final price tag shows oil and gas assets are difficult to sell amid weak energy prices.
Total, which will own 60 percent of the project after the transaction, had expected to get up to $1.5 billion for the stake sale, Reuters reported earlier this year.
For the French energy giant the sale means a step forward in its $5 billion asset sale programme this year, while SSE gains access to valuable gas supplies to feed its 8.5 million customer accounts and power plants.
"The acquisition comes following a period of relatively low wholesale gas prices and is therefore timely," Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE chief executive, said in a statement.
The acquisition will enhance SSE's earnings per share by up to five pence from 2016/17 onwards and expand SSE's reserves and resources to over 6 billion therms across its portfolio, it said.
SSE will invest around 170 million pounds in the field in the current financial year. A total investment of 350 million pounds is earmarked for the project to 2018, SSE said.
