TotalEnergies is a French oil-and-gas supermajor led by chief executive Patrick Pouyanne. It produces the equivalent of 450,000 barrels a day from sub-Saharan Africa, almost a fifth of its total hydrocarbon production and more than any other big Western firm. Its current plans would add another 374,000 barrels, according to Rystad Energy, a consultancy. Only the Italian firm Eni is more ambitious in the region.
Since 2019 the output of the five supermajors in sub-Saharan Africa has fallen by a third, as Western firms sell off ageing assets. But TotalEnergies is developing new reserves in countries that have never produced oil or gas before.
Even before the Iran war, upstream oil-and-gas investment in Africa by the industry's seven biggest Western companies was set to rise to $64bn between 2026 and 2030, up from $41bn in the preceding five years, according to Wood Mackenzie; as a share of their overall upstream investment, it would rise from 10.6% to 13.5%. In September 2025 TotalEnergies was awarded four offshore exploration permits by Liberia. Of 42 "high-impact" oil wells identified globally by Rystad, a consultancy, 17 are in Africa.
In November 2025 Daniel Kretinsky, a Czech billionaire, became a major shareholder in TotalEnergies.
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