The French oil company Total announced on Monday 18 May that it « will not proceed with the acquisition of Occidental Petroleum’s assets in Ghana ». This decision was justified by the European major on the grounds that the acquisition of the assets in Ghana was « conditional on the completion of the sale of the Algerian assets ». However, « Occidental has informed Total that, under an agreement with the Algerian authorities on the transfer of Anadarko’s interests to Occidental, Occidental would not be in a position to sell its interests in Algeria », Total’s management pointed out, referring to the Algerian authorities’ opposition to the proposed takeover of Anadarko’s oil assets by Total in the country. Positive, Total’s CEO Patrick Pouyanné however stressed that « this decision not to pursue the acquisition of the assets in Ghana comforts [era] the Group’s effort to control its net investments this year and allows [ttra] to maintain financial flexibility to face the uncertainties but also the opportunities created by the current environment ».