French energy giant Total plans to boost oil exploration and open more petrol stations SA.

Total pumped a record amount of oil and gas in the first quarter and expects output growth to exceed its 6% target this year, thanks to acquisitions and new projects from the Arctic to West Africa. In SA, the company plans to expand its network of more than 500 fuel stations and finish a deep-water offshore exploration well, started in 2014.

“In retail, we clearly want to grow and to grow by 200 to 300 service stations in the coming few years,” Pierre-Yves Sachet, MD and CEO for Total SA, said in an interview in Johannesburg on Thursday. “The intensity of our footprint is not exactly the one we would like to have yet.”

Total, which is already due to open 20 new retail outlets this year, is considering partnerships to increase that number. It faces competition from Sasol, which is also looking to expand its fuel-station network in SA, currently standing at about 4,600 outlets.

Total is also interested in supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) and adding solar projects as part of two government programmes that faced delays under former president Jacob Zuma. While there hasn’t yet been a marked change in demand and investment under President Cyril Ramaphosa, there is a difference in the business community, according to Sachet.

“There’s more confidence in the atmosphere, this is very clear,” said Sachet, who sees growth in the company’s sales of fuel and lubricants to mining companies.

Total, which owns 36% of the 108,000-barrel-a-day Natref refinery in a joint venture with Sasol, expects to resume drilling on SA’s first deep-water well by the end of this year or the first quarter of 2019, said Sachet. It was forced to suspend operations in 2014 because of strong currents.

The results will be watched by fellow majors ExxonMobil and Eni, which also have offshore stakes in SA. Royal Dutch Shell relinquished a licence last year.

Petroleum Agency SA, the industry regulator, has blamed lower oil prices and uncertainty about pending legislation, including the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill, for curbing investment in exploration.

Bloomberg