The increase, which compares with Total's capex of $20.6 billion last year, came as Total reported higher fourth-quarter profit on the back of rising oil and gas prices.
Shell and BP have also lately announced significant capex rises and some investors fear the additional spending will not significantly boost returns as margins on many new projects are tight.
Total shares traded down 0.8 percent at 40.83 euros by 0956 GMT, against a 0.6 percent drop in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index. The stock had risen in the previous session to its highest since May last year, but remains well below a peak of 63.40 euros set in mid 2007.
Total Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie added he was looking at investing in the semi-autonomous Kurdish area of Iraq but found southern Iraq unattractive.
Total said net income excluding one-off items related to changes in the value of fuel inventories rose 7 percent to 2.73 billion euros ($3.6 billion). Analysts at Bernstein and Cheuvreux said the result was in line with their expectations.
In dollar terms, Total's underlying profit was 6 percent higher than the same period in 2010, compared with a 14 percent rise at BP Plc and an 18 percent increase at Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Brent crude averaged $109 per barrel in the quarter, up 26 percent on the same period in 2010 due to strong global demand and unrest in the Middle East, while the price Total received for its natural gas rose 21 percent.
However, Total said its return on average capital employed (ROACE) fell, in part because of higher costs which increased 14 percent, on a per barrel basis, in the upstream division.
Rivals like Shell have also reported lower ROACE and higher capex budgets, leading investors to worry that they are spending more to generate the same returns as in the past.
Oil prices were at an all time record for a full year in 2011, yet the big oil companies failed to match the headline profit figures or ROACE rates they were reporting several years ago when oil prices were much lower.
Total said its production was unchanged in the fourth quarter at 2.38 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) and fell 1 percent over the year to 2.35 million boepd.
A weak refining market also weighed on results and forced Total, Europe's largest refiner by capacity, to write down the value of its crude processing assets.
Total confirmed it expected to increase production by between 2 and 3 percent in 2012, depending on production recovery in Libya and Syria.
