By TotalEnergies has agreed a $1.8 billion partnership with BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) covering some of its oil and gas infrastructure assets in Africa, the French company said on Friday.
Under the agreement, GIP will make a $1.8 billion capital contribution. TotalEnergies will pay GIP a tariff based on the volume of oil and gas moving through the assets, over a period of up to 15 years, the company said in a statement.
TotalEnergies did not say which assets or countries are covered. The statement referred only to its interests in “some oil & gas infrastructure assets in Africa.”
Chief Financial Officer Jean-Pierre Sbraire said the deal strengthens the company’s relationship with GIP and “crystallizes the value” of some of its midstream infrastructure assets in Africa.
Midstream assets typically include pipelines, storage and processing facilities that carry oil and gas from where it is produced to refineries or export terminals.
The transaction lets TotalEnergies monetize value from parts of its African midstream infrastructure while keeping access to the assets through the long-term tariff arrangement, trade publication World Oil reported.
The statement did not say when the transaction is expected to close, whether regulatory approvals are required, or whether GIP will take an ownership stake in the assets. It also carried no comment from GIP.
TotalEnergies shares were down 1.7% in premarket trading on Friday, while BlackRock shares were higher, according to financial news site Stocktwits.
The deal builds on an infrastructure relationship between TotalEnergies and GIP that began with a 2021 transaction involving the Gladstone LNG facilities in Australia, Stocktwits reported.
GIP is an infrastructure investment platform focused on energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and water and waste management, according to Egypt Oil & Gas. BlackRock completed its acquisition of GIP in October 2024.
The agreement comes as TotalEnergies expands its African oil and gas activity. The company has recently invested in Angola, Namibia and Uganda.
In Uganda, TotalEnergies is building the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), designed to carry up to 246,000 barrels per day from the Lake Albert oilfields to the port of Tanga in Tanzania for export.
TotalEnergies and China’s CNOOC are developing the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields, which are expected to make Uganda a crude exporter in early 2027, supported by the $5 billion pipeline.
TotalEnergies has not said whether its pipeline interests are part of the GIP agreement.
In Angola, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said this month that the company and its partners expect to invest $10 billion in “different projects” over the next five years, Rigzone reported.
On Sept. 10, TotalEnergies announced the Acacia-5 discovery in Block 17, where it is operator with a 38% stake. The discovery will be tied back to the Pazflor floating production vessel, adding 6,000 barrels per day of capacity.
Off Namibia, TotalEnergies last year signed an agreement with Galp that formalized its operatorship of the country’s two largest offshore oil discoveries, Mopane and Venus, through an asset swap.
TotalEnergies has also added exploration acreage offshore Namibia, north of a block where a major oil discovery was made.
TotalEnergies describes itself as a global integrated energy company that produces and markets oil, biofuels, natural gas, biogas, low-carbon hydrogen, renewables and electricity.
The company said it has more than 100,000 employees and is active in about 120 countries.
