PARIS (Reuters) – French oil major TotalEnergies expects to take a final investment decision (FID) on its Namibian offshore oil discovery in 2026, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday at a press briefing.
The development would have a production capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, down from an initial 160,000 barrels per day discussed at its investor day in October.
Pouyanne had previously targeted the end of 2025 for a decision on FID at a results call last April.
The French oil major has said it is struggling to achieve breakeven at under $20 per barrel, an internal requirement for FID.
Promising offshore discoveries in Namibia, which has no oil and gas production, have been complicated by a high amount of gas that will make development more expensive.
Last month Shell wrote down its Namibian discoveries, while Chevron declared its initial findings commercially unviable. (This story has been corrected to clarify that Shell wrote down its Namibian discoveries, not BP, in paragraph 6)
(Reporting by America Hernandez and Benjamin Mallet in Paris, Editing by Louise Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
