[miningmx.com] – TOTAL CEO, Patrick Pouyanne, expressed his wish to conclude the sale of Total South Africa’s coal assets to Exxaro Resources – a transaction that is waiting on South African government approval.
“I still have a coal business and I have to get out of it,’ said Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of Total Group to reporters in Paris. He earlier commented that “gas was good” as Total planned to produce and trade 32.5 million metric tons of LNG.
“I can’t say that coal is the enemy of gas and then continue to produce coal like some of my colleagues. I will get out of coal,’ he said.
Exxaro first announced its plans to buy Total SA’s coal assets for R4.8bn in July 2014 and is hoping for the South African government to issue a change of control permit in order to conclude the deal.
