Martin Deffontaines, Country Manager at TotalEnergies Angola, announced that the company plans to drill one exploration well per year in Angola in a bid to reverse production decline. Deffontaines was speaking during an onstage interview at the Angola Oil & Gas 2025 Conference and Exhibition.
As one of the country’s biggest oil producers, the company has faced natural declines in mature fields. To address this, TotalEnergies is reinvesting in well integrity across its mature fields while targeting new exploration programs.
“Our main challenge is to maintain and increase production. We have some installations facing their 20-25 years of design life such as Girassol and Dalia. After that will be PAZFLOR and CLOV. So, keeping the integrity of our wells is the first challenge. Another challenge is exploration to add new projects and production and address declines. We are drilling one exploration well per year which will help us increase production,” Deffontaines shared.
TotalEnergies is cementing its position as one of Angola’s biggest oil producers through a series of large-scale offshore projects. The company introduced 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the market in 2025 with the start of the Begonia and CLOV Phase 3 Developments, offering a much-needed boost to Angola’s national production. Begonia represents the first inter-block development in Angola, reflecting the value of synergies in delivering greater production across Angola’s offshore assets.
CLOV Phase 3 – situated at one of Angola’s legacy assets: Block 17 – has demonstrated the upside potential of the country’s producing blocks. Comprising four subsea wells tied back to the CLOV FPSO vessel, the development increases the block’s production capacity. The milestone comes as TotalEnergies and its block partners secured a license extension for the block, allowing the life of the Dalia FPSO to be extended until 2045.
“We just celebrated two projects starting [in 2025]. The first is Begonia and I was impressed by the level of commitments from all the stakeholders to get these projects done. Another example is Kaminho – a $6 billion project which we managed to make commercial and that’s thanks to our partners,” Deffontaines added.
Looking ahead, TotalEnergies is committed to increasing Angolan output even further, with strategic projects such as the Kaminho development at the forefront of this strategy. Having reached a final investment decision in 2024, the project is on track for first production in 2028, representing the first large deepwater development in the offshore Kwanza basin.
Beyond oil and gas, TotalEnergies is advancing local content development through programs focused on empowering youth and women in Angola. According to Deffontaines, the Angolan oil and gas industry is faced with significant challenges, such as the global energy transition, and therefore requires innovation and youth-driven development.
“We need young people to be with us and actors of the transition – not against oil and gas,” he said.
To foster greater inclusion in the industry, TotalEnergies has several programs in place. Deffontaines shared that the company “currently have 30 youth in Angola that we are helping. It is their first professional experience. Last year, we launched a program for women and given the opportunity to 24 young women after school to join TotalEnergies in technical capacities such as drilling, field operations and more. This is a strong program dedicated to women. We have our first women field manager on PAZFLOR.”
These programs reflect TotalEnergies’ broader commitment to Angola, whereby the energy major strives to unlock greater value from the oil and gas industry while facilitating skills development and capital building.