Delivering a presentation during the African Energy Week (AEW) Conference Technical Track – taking place ahead of the Strategic Program this week in Cape Town – Rodolphe Mardèle, Vice President for Upstream at TotalEnergies Global Procurement, outlined how the multinational has been able to position itself as a major supplier globally. Mardèle shared insights into the multinational’s strategy to consolidate this position while detailing investment and partnership opportunities in Africa’s evolving energy landscape.

“We operate in more than 100 countries, with an operational spend of more than $22 billion,” Mardèle explained. With activities in 43 African countries, TotalEnergies has not only effectively monetized oil and gas resources across the continent’s resource-rich basins but has supported and facilitated the supply of affordable energy. According to Mardèle, “In terms of supply worldwide, we have over 100,000 suppliers across the company. It demonstrates the strength of this industry for us.”

Mardèle provided an overview of the company while detailing the fundamental principles that govern TotalEnergies’ activities. At the forefront is sustainability and local content, with efforts underway to advance these initiatives and create positive impacts on local communities where the company operates.

On the employment front, Mardèle explained that, “Our workforce is over 1,400 in procurement worldwide, and 80% of this workforce is located in Africa.”

Active across the entire energy value chain, TotalEnergies integrates sustainability across its entire portfolio and is committed to spearheading a new era of clean energy supplies on the back of digitalization and environmentally-friendly portfolios.

“We are committed to sustainability and our fundamental principles. The first one is respect of human rights at work; the second is related to safety and security, to protect our workforce and contractors; and the third is acting in favor of climate. It is new and challenging for majors but we are committed. We need to progress and we are committed to being transparent. Fourth is preserving the environment - [this involves] circularity and waste management. It also involves bio diversity action for all sites,” Mardèle explained.

Mardèle continued to explain that, “The fifth is to prevent corruption, conflict of interests and the fight against fraud and the sixth is to respect competition law. Finally, the seventh is the promotion of economic and social development. This involves local content, and for our industry, it is good for us. We are dedicated to promoting local content.”

Thereafter, Mardèle provided insight into the procurement contracting process, outlining the entire process from qualification to external commitment to competition and local content. Questions from the audience drew attention to the critical role a local content plan has in emerging markets, particularly Namibia and Mozambique where the energy major is developing large-scale projects.

Mardèle emphasized that “In a new oil and gas country, we have a method. It is very important to have a local content plan. We need to understand capability and know where we need to develop.” 

Going forward, TotalEnergies has placed Africa as a primary market and is dedicated to strengthening its contribution to the industry. Working in close collaboration with national and foreign players, the multinational is working towards making energy poverty history through the steady supply of sustainable energy.

The AEW 2023 Technical Track kicked off the week’s discussions, with the Strategic Program commencing Tuesday October 17. Keep following www.AECWeek.com for more exciting information and updates about Africa’s largest gathering of energy stakeholders.