KENYA – TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya Plc,  formerly Total Kenya, has appointed Mr. Olivier Van Parys to serve as the director and chairman of the board with effect from September 21, 2021.

Mr. Van Prays, an insider in the French oil major, replaces Frenchman Jean-Philippe Torres who has resigned from the position he held from September 2018.

The new board chair serves as the Executive Vice President of the East and Central Africa division at TotalEnergies in Paris, France.

“Mr. Van Parys has worked for the TotalEnergies Company for the last 26 years and has progressively and diligently served in various senior positions,” the firm said in a press notice.

The appointment comes just a month after the firm named a new chief executive Eric Fanchini who replaced Olagoke Aluko on August 16, 2021.  

The changes also come amid the oil and gas marketer rebranding efforts as it seeks to shift to renewable energy.

The French firm said it will invest US$60 billion in wind and solar projects globally by 2030 and also plans to reduce petroleum products to 35 percent in the next nine years.

In Kenya, the oil dealer runs 176 service stations, five fully-owned fuel depots and three jointly-owned, two liquefied petroleum gas filling plants, one lubricant blending plant and five aviation depots.

Total also operates outlets under the ‘Bonjour’ brand at many of its fuel stations where it sells food, mainly targeting customers who come for fuel.

Previous board chairs, largely insiders, at the firm whose shares trade on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) have not served for more than three years.

Mr. Van Parys has held various positions in Total including as a lubricant engineer, product development engineer, rising through the ranks to hold managerial positions in Madagascar, Congo, Ghana, France and the Netherlands.

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