TotalEnergies and BlackRock’s GIP strike $1.8B deal to monetize African oil and gas infrastructure

TotalEnergies just found a way to turn its African pipeline and storage infrastructure into nearly $2 billion in fresh capital without actually giving up the keys. The French energy major announced a deal with Global Infrastructure Partners, an affiliate of BlackRock, for an $1.8 billion investment tied to the company’s midstream oil and gas assets across Africa. The structure is essentially a sale-and-leaseback for pipelines. TotalEnergies transfers ownership of certain midstream infrastructure to GIP, then pays a throughput-based tariff, a fee linked to the volume of oil and gas flowing through those assets, for up to 15 years. TotalEnergies keeps running the show operationally. GIP gets a steady, volume-linked revenue stream backed by one of the world’s largest integrated energy companies. How the deal works The specific assets covered by the deal were not disclosed. What we know is they span TotalEnergies’ African portfolio, which includes significant operations in countries like Angola, Nigeria, and several other producing nations across the continent. TotalEnergies CFO Jean-Pierre Sbraire framed the transaction as a deepening of the relationship with GIP, suggesting this may ...