Africa must be free to develop its oil, gas and renewable energy resources according to its own development priorities, TotalEnergies Senior Vice President for Africa Mike Sangster said at the opening of African Energy Week 2026 in Cape Town. With approximately 550 million Africans still without access to electricity, Sangster argued that the continent needs to expand energy supply while allowing individual countries to determine the mix of resources best suited to their economies. His remarks placed electricity access, energy security and investment at the centre of the debate over Africa’s transition.
Sangster said expanding energy access will require more than resource availability. Governments need predictable regulations, stable fiscal frameworks and improved access to capital to attract investors into projects that can take years to develop and decades to operate. He also pointed to Mission 300, the initiative targeting electricity connections for 300 million people in Africa by 2030, noting that more than 50 million people had been connected since 2024. TotalEnergies participates in the initiative’s Private Sector Council, linking the company’s investment agenda with efforts to expand access.
Mozambique’s liquefied natural gas industry was one of the major projects Sangster highlighted. Following the restart of Mozambique LNG activities, the project remains central to the country’s ambitions to become a major LNG exporter. Sangster cited more than 4,000 local workers trained, job creation and projected lifetime government revenues of approximately $35 billion. Those revenues remain forecasts dependent on project execution and future operations, while the scale of the development also raises questions about how local businesses, workers and communities will share in the economic benefits.
Namibia and East Africa formed another part of the company’s investment case. Sangster pointed to the Venus and Mopane discoveries and further exploration opportunities in Namibia’s Orange Basin, where development decisions could determine the timing of future production and related investment. In Uganda, he cited the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil developments and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline linking Uganda to Tanzania, alongside reported local procurement spending of $2 billion and around 90,000 direct and indirect jobs associated with construction. These projects illustrate the potential scale of energy investment, while their eventual economic contribution will depend on delivery, local participation and the distribution of costs and benefits.
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South Africa provided an example of TotalEnergies’ broader portfolio, spanning oil and gas exploration, fuel supply, renewable electricity and battery storage. Sangster highlighted the Hydra solar and battery storage project, saying its expected annual electricity output was equivalent to the consumption of about 200,000 South African households, and called for more efficient permitting to accelerate investment. His address presented a multi-energy strategy rather than a single pathway for the continent. The central test, however, is whether projects across these different technologies deliver dependable energy, jobs, stronger local industries and wider electricity access. Africa’s freedom to choose its energy future will matter most when those choices translate into measurable development outcomes.
