TotalEnergies unveils plan to invest $6bn in Nigeria’s energy sector

French energy giant TotalEnergies has unveiled a $6 billion investment plan spread across several years in Nigeria, just as the West African country is looking to cut down on red tape hindering investment in its oil and gas sector.
Through this announcement, TotalEnergies has reiterated its commitment to investing in Nigeria’s oil and energy sector, with a primary focus on gas and offshore projects, the Nigerian presidency has said. The French energy giant disclosed that its CEO, Patrick Pouyanne, held talks with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and formalized a cooperation agreement with Nigeria’s state oil firm, NNPC Ltd. The deal also outlines plans to conduct methane detection and measurement campaigns using TotalEnergies’ cutting-edge drone-based AUSEA technology on various oil and gas facilities in Nigeria. As Nigeria accounts for 8 to 10% of the company’s worldwide total production and over 18% of its global investment, Pouyanne described the country as “very important” for Total Energies.
Over the past ten years, the company has invested heavily in Nigeria – including projects like Egina, Ofon Phase 2, the OML 58 Upgrade and Ikike – becoming the largest private investor in the country’s energy sector. TotalEnergies’ list of FDI projects in Africa continues to expand after it recently promised to build a 216 MW solar plant in South Africa alongside a 500MWh battery storage system. However, a report published in November 2022 by Greenpeace and Factor-X accused the oil major of disclosing only 455 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2019 in public statements — around four times less than the real amount of emissions that were equivalent to about 1.64 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. In response, TotalEnergies claimed that the report was “at the very least dubious,” and it sued the environmental NGO in May 2023.