Thierry Desmarest (born 18 December 1945 in Paris) is a French businessman. He is the current honorary chairman of Total. He was also chief executive officer at Total from May 1995 until February 2007, when he was replaced by

Christophe de Margerie Christophe de Margerie (, 6 August 1951 – 20 October 2014) was a French businessman. He served as the chairman and chief executive officer of French oil corporation Total S.A. Early life Christophe de Margerie was born in Mareuil-sur-Lay-Di ...

. via Answers.com. In 1999, Desmarest had led the TotalFina oil company through the acquisition of a Belgium oil company, Petrofina, for $12 billion. In July 1999, Desmarest had also led the TotalFina enterprise through the acquisition of Elf Acquitaine for $44 billion. It was this procurement that raised TotalFina to the fourth largest oil company in the world. Desmarest has multinational and continental experience within the oil industry. As a head of the exploration and production department at TotalFina he was stationed in Venezuela and Algeria. During his time overseas, he procured oil and gas reserves to add to Totalfina's oil supply. In 1995, Desmarest he closed a landmark deal with

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

in Iran making Totalfina the first oil company outside of Iran to drill for oil since 1979. Desmarest's contemporaries have nicknamed him "Le Petit Prince" (The Little Prince).Total's Empire Builder; Bloomberg Businessweek; 1999 His position as chairman of the board of directors of Total expired on 18 December 2015, in line with the age limits specified by the group. Thierry Desmarest still remains honorary chairman of Total and will remain as a director until the annual shareholders’ meeting on 24 May 2016.

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1945 births Living people École Polytechnique alumni Mines Paris - PSL alumni Corps des mines French chief executives TotalEnergies people Air Liquide people Officers of the Legion of Honour {{France-business-bio-stub