TotalEnergies and GIP Reach US$1.8 Billion Cooperation on African Oil and Gas Infrastructure

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 18, TotalEnergies signed a cooperation agreement with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a BlackRock company, covering interests in certain African oil and gas infrastructure assets held by TotalEnergies. Under the agreement, GIP will provide US$1.8 billion in capital, and TotalEnergies will pay GIP over a period of up to 15 years based on the actual throughput or processing volumes of the relevant infrastructure. TotalEnergies defines the assets involved in this transaction as African midstream oil and gas infrastructure, but has not yet disclosed the specific asset names, host countries, or the proportion of each asset included in the transaction.

This cooperation adopts a long-term tariff arrangement linked to infrastructure throughput. After GIP invests its capital, its subsequent returns will be linked to the actual processing or transportation volumes of the relevant oil and gas infrastructure, with an agreement term of up to 15 years. Jean-Pierre Sbraire, Chief Financial Officer of TotalEnergies, stated that this cooperation involves some of the company's midstream infrastructure assets in Africa and will further extend the partnership between the two parties in the energy infrastructure sector. TotalEnergies has not yet disclosed the tariff rates, minimum throughput arrangements, transaction closing conditions, or the specific implementation timeline.

TotalEnergies and GIP have previously used a similar infrastructure cooperation model. In 2021, the two parties completed a transaction worth more than US$750 million involving the Gladstone LNG downstream facilities in Australia, under which GIP received tariff income over a 15-year period calculated on the basis of TotalEnergies' share of gas processing volumes; Total GLNG Australia, a TotalEnergies entity, retained full ownership and control of its 27.5% interest in the Gladstone LNG downstream joint venture. The Gladstone LNG downstream facilities include a gas transportation system and two LNG liquefaction trains.

Compared with the 2021 Gladstone LNG transaction, the capital scale of this African agreement has increased to US$1.8 billion and continues to adopt a throughput-linked tariff mechanism with a maximum term of 15 years. However, TotalEnergies' announcement this time does not indicate whether ownership or operational control of the relevant infrastructure has changed, nor does it disclose the specific composition of the oil and gas pipelines, storage and transportation terminals, gas processing facilities, or other midstream assets involved. Therefore, at this stage, the agreement cannot be described as an asset sale or a transfer of equity in specific oil and gas projects.

At present, TotalEnergies only confirms that the agreement covers its interests in certain oil and gas midstream infrastructure in Africa. The specific countries, number of assets, asset valuations, equity proportions of each party, and transaction completion time have not been disclosed, and subsequent milestones will still need to be based on the transaction closing arrangements or specific asset lists disclosed by the company.