Financial Times: Straight-talker ready to take risks
“It was a move so daring that five years later Mr Desmarest was seen – until last week when he ruled it out – as one of the only men capable of considering a bid for Royal/Dutch Shell, Total’s far bigger, yet distressed, rival.”
By Carola Hoyos in London
Published: September 15 2004
Thierry Desmarest, chair-man and chief executive of French oil group Total, occupies an enviable position among his peers. His company is not only returning vast amounts of cash to shareholders, but is also closing in on its bigger rivals by growing production at double the industry rate.
This has afforded the cerebral 49-year-old the ability to speak more frankly than most other oil executives about controversial issues facing an industry beset by activists and politicians.