Qatar Petroleum, Total form new company to develop oil field

Qatar Petroleum and France's Total on Monday signed an agreement to create a new company that will develop and operate one of the world's largest oil fields located in the Arab Gulf country.

QP announced that the new North Oil Company will be 70 percent owned by Qatar Petroleum and 30 percent by Total. As part of the joint venture, the state-owned oil and gas corporation licensed the rights for the production, sale and export of the Al-Shaheen offshore oil field's crude for 25 years starting July 2017.

The deal pushes out Denmark's Maersk Oil, which had been operating the field for nearly 25 years. The Al-Shaheen oil field produces around 40 percent of Qatar's crude oil at around 300,000 barrels per day.

QP's President and CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi thanked Maersk Oil for their "significant efforts and valuable contribution in managing Al-Shaheen field... and for the offer they have presented," but that ultimately the bidding process was aimed at choosing a partner with "world class technical capabilities" that could ensure "the highest possible financial return to the state of Qatar."