TotalEnergies and French artificial intelligence company Mistral have launched a three-year joint programme to develop advanced AI models for oil and gas reservoir exploration and engineering. The programme represents an investment of more than €100 million ($115 million) and is aimed at supporting TotalEnergies’ geoscience experts in identifying and developing exploration opportunities.
Under the programme, the two companies will work together to develop a new generation of frontier AI models designed specifically for the energy company’s subsurface activities. The models will be used to process and interpret large volumes of data related to oil and gas reservoirs, with the objective of supporting exploration, reservoir characterisation and the development of existing and new projects.
A key part of the initiative will be the use of agentic AI, alongside TotalEnergies’ subsurface data and expertise in geoscience and reservoir engineering. According to TotalEnergies, the programme will combine nearly 10 petaflops of data with almost a century of knowledge, know-how and expertise accumulated by the company in geosciences and reservoir engineering.
The AI models are expected to help integrate and analyse large amounts of information and generate multiple scenarios for exploration and reservoir development. The companies also intend to use the technology to support the optimisation and extension of the life of existing projects.
To advance the programme, TotalEnergies and Mistral will establish a joint scientific laboratory. The laboratory will bring together the subsurface knowledge of TotalEnergies’ technical teams with Mistral’s AI research and technology capabilities. The partnership is intended to produce AI solutions tailored to the specific requirements of TotalEnergies’ businesses rather than relying only on general-purpose AI models.
The initiative also reflects TotalEnergies’ efforts to build a proprietary AI ecosystem using strategic industrial data and European technology capabilities. Through its partnership with Mistral, the company aims to develop AI models within a European digital ecosystem while using its own subsurface data and industry expertise.
Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, said that exploration and reservoir engineering are among the areas where artificial intelligence can create significant value for the company’s activities. He said the partnership would combine TotalEnergies’ geoscience data and expertise with Mistral’s capabilities to develop tools that can assist experts in analysing complex data and supporting decision-making.
Arthur Mensch, Co-founder and CEO of Mistral, said the programme would take the existing collaboration between the two companies to the next level. He highlighted the ability of Mistral’s models to support complex industrial processes and address demanding scientific and energy-related challenges.
The partnership builds on TotalEnergies’ broader efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into its operations and energy businesses. The company has previously worked with Mistral on AI applications, while the latest three-year programme places a greater focus on developing specialised models for subsurface exploration and reservoir engineering.
For Mistral, the collaboration provides an opportunity to apply its AI capabilities to complex industrial and scientific workloads. For TotalEnergies, the programme brings together its extensive geoscience knowledge and subsurface data with advanced AI development capabilities to support exploration and engineering activities.
The three-year initiative therefore represents a significant investment in the use of specialised AI within the energy sector, with the focus extending beyond general-purpose applications to models designed around the specific data, technical expertise and operational requirements of oil and gas exploration.
