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French energy firm Engie has confirmed that it is in talks with Total and other unnamed firms whilst also launching a review of its LNG businesses.

The confirmation follows an article by La Lettre de l'Expansion, which stated that Engie is in discussions over a possible sale of its LNG division to Total and that an agreement could be reached over the coming weeks.

The Paris-headquartered company said in a statement that it has started a strategic review of its upstream and midstream LNG activities, covering liquefaction, transport and international trading of LNG.

Engie stressed, however, that "downstream LNG activities, such as regasification and LNG ex-terminal sales, are not part of the review".

"At this stage, there can be no certainty as to whether the discussions with the counterparties, including Total, will lead to any agreement," Engie said.

"Any agreement would have to be approved by the relevant governance bodies and the relevant employee representative bodies would have to be consulted," the energy firm added.

Engie is part owner of LNG bunker supplier Gas4Sea together with partners Mitsubishi Corporation and NYK Line. The company's delivery asset, the Engie Zeebrugge, is the world's first purpose-built LNG bunkering vessel. Following its arrival in Antwerp earlier this year, the ship now performs regular ship-to-ship bunker deliveries.

In May, Engie also agreed to enter into a joint venture with AES Corporation to market and sell LNG to third parties in Central America and to provide bunkering services.

Engie is listed on Paris's stock exchange. Shares at the close of trading on Monday were valued at EUR 14.62 with a 52-week range of EUR 10.77 - EUR 15.03.