Oil companies have spent the last few years telling anyone who will listen that they are really technology companies now. TotalEnergies is putting some money behind that claim.
The French energy major and Mistral, France's homegrown artificial intelligence champion, have launched a three-year program to develop advanced AI models for oil and gas exploration and reservoir engineering. The price tag: more than 100 million euros, or roughly $115 million.
The idea is to combine TotalEnergies' decades of subsurface expertise and data with Mistral's AI technology. In other words, take the stuff geologists and reservoir engineers have been squinting at for generations and hand it to a machine that never gets tired of squinting.
AI Goes After the Reservoir
The companies plan to use advances in AI, including agentic AI, to analyze large volumes of geological and reservoir data. Agentic AI, for the uninitiated, is the flavor of AI that can take actions and work through multi-step tasks rather than just answering questions.
The models will help TotalEnergies generate development scenarios for exploration opportunities. They will also support efforts to optimize existing projects and extend their operating lives, which is a fancy way of saying squeezing more value out of wells that are already producing.
As part of the partnership, the two companies will establish a joint scientific laboratory. It will bring together TotalEnergies' subsurface teams and Mistral's AI researchers, presumably in a room full of whiteboards and very large datasets.
TotalEnergies Expands Its AI Strategy
The energy giant said the collaboration will help it develop proprietary AI models within a European digital ecosystem while protecting strategic subsurface data. That last part matters. Subsurface data is about as proprietary as corporate information gets, and nobody wants it wandering off to a third-party cloud.
"Exploration and reservoir engineering are among the areas where artificial intelligence can create the greatest value for our activities," TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné said.
Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch said the project demonstrates how customizable AI models can support complex industrial and scientific processes while protecting companies' intellectual property.
The agreement also expands TotalEnergies' AI ecosystem as energy companies increasingly use advanced computing to improve exploration and project economics. Translation: the industry has decided that the best way to find oil is to let the computers do more of the looking.
Stock Performance and Technical Analysis
TotalEnergies stock edged higher Tuesday, holding firm despite broader market weakness. The Nasdaq fell 0.17%, while the S&P 500 declined 0.20%.
TotalEnergies' modest gain comes against a defensive market backdrop. The Dow Jones fell 0.38%, while the Russell 2000 dropped 0.56%.
The relative strength suggests investors are still supporting the stock near the upper end of its recent range.
TotalEnergies remains in a clear longer-term uptrend. The stock trades about 2.4% above its 20-day simple moving average of $89.62 and 12.8% above its 200-day SMA of $81.32.
The 20-day SMA also remains above the 50-day average, supporting the bullish trend.
Momentum remains constructive. The MACD is above its signal line, while the histogram is positive. That suggests buyers are maintaining control.
Resistance sits near $92. A breakout could put the 52-week high of $94.17 back in focus. Support sits near $85, close to the 50-day and 100-day moving-average region of $86 to $87.
TTE Stock Price Activity: TotalEnergies shares were up 0.29% at $91.40 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to market data.
