He was a honorary chairman of Total and its chief executive officer from May 1995 until February 2007, when he was replaced by Christophe de Margerie.
In July 1999, Desmarest had also led the TotalFina enterprise through the acquisition of Elf Acquitaine for $44 billion.
As a head of the exploration and production department at TotalFina he was stationed in Venezuela and Algeria.
[6] 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 remained honorary chairman of Total and as a director until the annual shareholders’ meeting on 24 May 2016.