Artificial intelligence is steadily becoming a strategic tool in the global oil industry. As energy companies seek to cut exploration costs and identify new reserves faster, AI technologies are enabling them to process massive volumes of geological data in significantly less time.
Against this backdrop, TotalEnergies announced on September 15 a three-year partnership with Mistral AI, the European artificial intelligence company. The goal is to develop AI models capable of automatically analyzing subsurface data, generating exploration scenarios and helping teams make faster decisions about oil and gas resources.
More than €100 million invested in AI
The program represents an investment of more than €100 million, equivalent to approximately $115 million. It will notably rely on agentic AI, a technology designed to perform complex tasks with a degree of autonomy.
The new tools will process seismic data, drilling results and reservoir analysis. TotalEnergies has accumulated a vast collection of geological information over nearly a century of operations, providing a valuable data foundation for training these models.
The partnership will not focus solely on discovering new deposits. The technologies are also expected to help optimize the management and extend the productive life of existing fields.
To support the initiative, TotalEnergies and Mistral AI plan to establish a joint scientific laboratory bringing together TotalEnergies’ exploration and reservoir engineering specialists with Mistral AI’s engineers.
According to TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, exploration and reservoir engineering are among the areas where artificial intelligence could generate significant value for the company.
AI models built around TotalEnergies’ own data
The agreement represents a new phase in the relationship between the two companies. Their initial collaboration, launched in June 2025, focused on low-carbon energy and broader applications of artificial intelligence.
This time, the objective is much more specific: to develop models tailored to TotalEnergies’ operational needs and trained on its proprietary geological data.
This approach is particularly significant for the oil industry. Drilling records, reservoir information and seismic imagery are highly strategic assets. Using them to train AI systems therefore raises important questions around data security, confidentiality and intellectual property.
The partnership with Mistral AI also reflects this concern. Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI, has emphasized the importance for large organizations of adopting customizable AI solutions while maintaining control over sensitive information.
A technological race already underway
TotalEnergies is not the only major oil company exploring the potential of artificial intelligence.
In the United States, ExxonMobil announced in July that it had identified four new exploration opportunities in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana, using AI models trained on its historical drilling and seismic imaging data.
The company said the models were subsequently deployed in previously unexplored areas after being trained on its extensive historical datasets.
Shell is also developing generative AI applications for seismic imaging, in partnership with U.S.-based technology company SparkCognition. According to reports on field trials, the technology was able to produce reliable subsurface images using only a fraction of the seismic shots normally required, potentially reducing exploration costs, particularly in deepwater operations.
Could Africa benefit from the technology?
TotalEnergies has a significant presence across sub-Saharan Africa, including major assets in Namibia and Angola. The company is active in Angola’s Block 17, where a new discovery was announced on September 10, as well as in Namibia’s Mopane field.
For now, however, TotalEnergies and Mistral AI have not identified specific regions as priorities for deploying the new technology. It therefore remains unclear whether the first applications will target the company’s African, European or Asian assets, or when field teams will begin using the tools operationally.
What is becoming increasingly clear is that AI is emerging as a major driver of technological transformation in the oil industry. By enabling companies to analyze complex datasets faster and simulate multiple exploration scenarios, the technology could significantly reshape how underground resources are identified, evaluated and developed.
For TotalEnergies, the next challenge will be turning decades of accumulated geological data into actionable insights and operational decisions—while maintaining strict control over its most valuable strategic information.
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