Total, a French multinational integrated oil and gas company, agreed to acquire African assets of Anadarko, a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, for $8.8bn in the event of successful completion of Occidental’s ongoing bid for Anadarko. “If completed, the acquisition of Anadarko by Occidental offers us the opportunity to acquire a world-class portfolio of assets in Africa, further enhancing our position as the leading IOC on the continent. We have said consistently that our M&A activities will add value by playing to our strengths and focussing on upgrading our portfolio. We would be able to leverage our expertise in LNG by operating a major project in Mozambique and in Deepwater in Ghana and we would become operator of major Algerian oil assets where we are already a partner,” Patrick Pouyanne, Total Chairman and CEO.