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SLB, TotalEnergies team up on 10-year partnership to develop scalable digital solutions

The partnership initially will focus on subsurface technology for reservoir engineering, as well as geoscience modeling and interpretation. Photo via totalenergies.com

Houston-based energy tech company SLB has forged a 10-year partnership with French energy company TotalEnergies to develop technology aimed at tackling industry challenges such as carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS).

“Collaboration and knowledge sharing are key for our industry to continuously develop more effective ways of unlocking energy access,” Rakesh Jaggi, president of SLB’s digital and integration business, says in a news release. “With this visionary partnership, we’re combining the know-how and expertise of both companies to accelerate the delivery of new digital capabilities that will benefit the whole industry.”

The partnership initially will focus on subsurface technology for reservoir engineering, as well as geoscience modeling and interpretation. The subsurface project will feature traditional technology coupled with artificial intelligence (AI).

Namita Shah, president of TotalEnergies’ OneTech business unit, says technology developed with SLB will help the oil and gas sector reduce emissions and dive deeper into geological carbon storage. TotalEnergies’ U.S. headquarters is in Houston.

“Through this digital partnership,” Shah says, “we will develop cutting-edge next-generation software, digital applications, and new algorithms applied to geoscience.”

One day after the digital partnership was announced, SLB said TotalEnergies had awarded a contract to SLB’s OneSubsea joint venture for a 13-well oil project being developed off the shore of Angola by TotalEnergies and two partners. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Initial production for the estimated $6 billion deepwater Kaminho project is targeted for 2028, generating up to 70,000 barrels of oil per day. TotalEnergies holds a 40 percent stake in Kaminho.

TotalEnergies owns a number of assets in Texas, including a refinery in Port Arthur. The refinery can produce about 200,000 barrels of oil per day along with low-sulfur fuels.

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Blackstone Infrastructure, an affiliate of Blackstone Inc., will acquire a major Texas electricity provider. Photo via Shutterstock

Blackstone Infrastructure, an investment giant with $600 million in assets under management, has agreed to buy publicly traded TXNM Energy in a debt-and-stock deal valued at $11.5 billion.

TXNM Energy is the parent company of Lewisville-based Texas New Mexico Power (TNMP), which supplies electricity to more than 270,000 homes and businesses throughout Texas. Its Houston-area service territory includes Alvin, Angleton, Brazoria, Dickinson, Friendswood, La Marque, League City, Sweeny, Texas City and West Columbia.

Once Blackstone Infrastructure wraps up the deal in the second half of 2026, Albuquerque, New Mexico-based TXNM will no longer be a public company. But TNMP’s headquarters will remain in Texas and its rates will continue to be set by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. TNMP was founded in 1934.

Blackstone Infrastructure is affiliated with investment powerhouse Blackstone Inc., which has $1.2 trillion in assets under management and is the world’s largest investment manager.

“TNMP has done an excellent job of meeting its customers’ growing demand for electricity and supporting the communities it serves,” Sean Klimczak, Blackstone’s global head of infrastructure, said in a news release. “We look forward to utilizing our long-term investment commitments to support TNMP as they continue on this path of high-demand growth across Texas.”

During TXNM’s fourth-quarter earnings call in February, Chairwoman and CEO Patricia Vincent-Collawn said the company’s five-year Texas capital investment plan had grown by more than $1 billion.

“Our future is so bright with these increased investment levels that we are now targeting earnings growth of 7 percent to 9 percent through 2029,” Vincent-Collawn said.

“Our financial expectations are driven by the continued expansion of grid infrastructure supporting growth and reliability in our Texas service territory,” she added.

In 2024, TXNM reported revenue of $1.96 billion, up 1.7 percent from the previous year.

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