TotalEnergies delays Venus FID
TotalEnergies’ final investment decision on its multibillion-dollar Venus oil development in Namibia has missed its 2026 target, with the French energy major giving no new timetable for the project in its latest global strategy.
The omission comes as TotalEnergies continues to approve major upstream investments elsewhere, announcing on Monday that it and its partners had taken a final investment decision on the full-field development of the Absheron gas and condensate field in Azerbaijan.
TotalEnergies had previously targeted an investment decision on Venus this year, with an earlier ambition to reach FID around the middle of 2026. That deadline has now passed without a decision, while the company’s latest Strategy and Outlook presentation does not give a revised date.
The French energy major identifies Namibia among six countries expected to support its oil and gas growth beyond 2030, but does not specify when Venus will be sanctioned.
The latest position leaves the timing of one of Namibia’s largest proposed oil developments unresolved, despite TotalEnergies previously saying the project was technically ready to proceed.
New strategy availed
On the same day it released the new strategy, TotalEnergies announced that it and its partners had taken FID on the full-field development of Absheron in Azerbaijan.
TotalEnergies operates Absheron with a 35% interest alongside SOCAR, which also holds 35%, and XRG, which holds 30%.
The two projects are at different stages and operate under different commercial, fiscal and regulatory conditions. However, the announcements underline that
TotalEnergies continues to sanction major upstream developments while the timetable for Venus remains uncertain.
Absheron, located in the Caspian Sea about 100km south-east of Baku, contains approximately 140 billion cubic metres of recoverable gas reserves.
Its first development phase began production in 2023, with a capacity of 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas a year and 12,000 barrels of condensate a day.
The newly sanctioned full-field development will increase production to six billion cubic metres of gas a year and 47,000 barrels of condensate a day, with start-up expected in 2029.
“We are pleased to announce the launch of Absheron Full Field development, a project that unlocks the full production potential of one of the Caspian Sea’s largest gas discoveries,” TotalEnergies chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said.
“In line with TotalEnergies’ strategy, Absheron Full Field Development is a low-cost and low-emissions project that will provide a long-term additional gas supply to the domestic and international markets, supporting regional energy security.”
TotalEnerrgies engages Presidency
In February, TotalEnergies told investors that Venus was targeting FID in 2026 and said it was engaging with Namibian authorities, with a target of reaching a decision by the middle of the year.
The company said the field had been fully appraised, front-end engineering and design had been completed, and competitive bids from engineering, procurement and construction contractors had provided greater certainty over the project’s expected capital costs.
TotalEnergies put Venus resources at about 750 million barrels of oil equivalent and outlined a development capable of producing about 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, with first oil targeted for 2030.
The mid-year FID target subsequently passed without a decision.
In August, TotalEnergies Namibia joint venture and development director Carlos Menezes said the company was technically ready to proceed but still needed to conclude discussions with the government.
He warned that contractor bids obtained for the development could not remain open indefinitely and rejected suggestions at the time that the decision could move into 2027.
“2027, that’s not going to work. We really need to be moving soon on [the decision],” Menezes said at the Namibia Oil and Gas Conference.
TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné also told investors in July that the company had selected contractors and was ready to make the investment decision, subject to finalising discussions with the Namibian government.
The timing subsequently reached Parliament after reports suggested that the FID could slip into 2027.
Industries, mines and energy minister Modestus Amutse said this month that TotalEnergies had not officially informed the government that it had postponed the decision to next year.
No clear FID plan Namibia
TotalEnergies’ latest strategy neither confirms a postponement to 2027 nor provides another FID target.
Despite the delayed decision, TotalEnergies continues to include Namibia in its longer-term upstream plans.
“In Oil & Gas, TotalEnergies already possesses a rich portfolio of organic projects (Namibia, Nigeria, Libya, Malaysia, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea) and a proven reserves life index of more than 12 years allowing the Company to maintain a production plateau of around 3 Mboe/d until 2035,” the company said.
“This solid base allows TotalEnergies to set an ambition for 2-3% growth per year over the period 2030-2035 by leveraging its proven track record in exploration and accessing discovered resources.”
The company plans net investments of between US$14 billion and US$17 billion a year between 2027 and 2032, although it did not say how much it would allocate to Namibia.
TotalEnergies is targeting average oil and gas production growth of more than 3% a year between 2025 and 2030 before pursuing growth of between 2% and 3% a year during the following five years.
Venus is not TotalEnergies’ only major Namibian development.
The company has also taken operatorship of the Mopane discovery after acquiring a 40% interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence 83 from Galp.
TotalEnergies has said it plans further appraisal of Mopane and is targeting an FID in 2028.
For Venus, however, the earlier 2026 investment timetable has now passed without a decision. TotalEnergies’ latest strategy does not say whether a new FID date has been set or whether the delay will affect the project’s targeted first oil around 2030.
