Kyari Parleys New TotalEnergies’ Country Chair, Bouyer

*With experience from gas-rich Qatar, Bouyer sets sights on discovering Nigeria’s

 Peter Uzoho

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and TotalEnergies last week took their long- standing discussion on collaboration for the growth and development of the Nigerian oil and gas industry a step further when the NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari hosted the new Managing Director of TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited and Country Chair, Mr. Matthieu Bouyer.

This was sequel to the appointment of Bouyer as the Managing Director of TotalEnergies EP Nigeria by the company’s board of directors in Paris, France, in a routine shakeup that saw the immediate-past Country Chair, Mr. Mike Sangster, promoted to lead the company’s Africa Business Division.
During their maiden meeting, which took place at the NNPC towers in Abuja, Kyari and Bouyer used the opportunity to discuss future collaborations between the national oil company and the French energy major.
NNPC had in a terse statement on X (formerly Twitter) stated that its GCEO, “had the pleasure of receiving the Managing Director and Country Chair of @TotalEnergiesNG E&P Nigeria, Matthieu Bouyer, in his office,” adding that, “the meeting served as an opportunity to welcome him to Nigeria and discuss future collaborations.”

Although the details of their discussion was yet to be made public, THISDAY gathered that collaboration between NNPC and its partner operators was highly needed considering the urgent need to claw back the lost investments in the Nigeria oil and gas industry which has largely contributed to the low exploration and production activities and resultant continued drop in oil production amidst dwindling oil revenue.
Bouyer, is expected to oversee TotalEnergies upstream arm at a time divestment of assets had become dominant amongst the international oil companies (IOCs), which want to exist the perceived high risk onshore assets in Nigeria in preference for the low risk offshore assets.
The discussion between Kyari and Bouyer may have also featured the ongoing Preowei project, which the NNPC had estimated to worth $2 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and which was inching towards Final Investment Decision (FID).

Another issue that may have come up during the discussion between Kyari and the new TotalEnergies’ Country Chair was likely to have been the recent oil discovery achieved by the French oil major in Ntokon, Offshore Oil Mining Lease (OML) 102 Nigeria and how to take the field to the next level of development.
Happening just few months after the start-up of production of the Ikike tie-back on OML 99 in 2022, TotalEnergies, had said the Ntokon discovery opened a promising outlook for a new tie-back development.
Meanwhile, with his experience drawn from gas-rich Qatar where he served in the last three years as the Managing Director and Country Chair of TotalEnergies EP Qatar, Bouyer, who has assumed his new role in Nigeria, said he was looking forward to discovering the large energy landscape of Nigeria and its potential.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) following his new appointment, Bouyer stated, “After three years in Qatar, I am starting a new position in Nigeria as MD and Country Chair at TotalEnergies.
“My time in Qatar has been multi-energy, in line with the transformation of the company. I met incredible people in a country that has been at the heart of gas planet over the last years.

“I now look forward to discovering the very large energy landscape of Nigeria that is full of potential in all energies.”
However, in a statement signed by the Country Communications Manager, TotalEnergies Nigeria, Dr. Charles Ebereonwu, which announced the appointment of Bouyer as the Managing Director/Chief Executive of TotalEnergies Upstream Companies in Nigeria and representative of TotalEnergies Company in Nigeria, the company said the appointment was effective August 21, 2023.
According to the statement sent to THISDAY, Bouyer became the Managing Director of TotalEnergies EP Qatar and Country Chair in Qatar in November 2020, a position he held until his appointment as the Managing Director of the upstream business and TotalEnergies representative in Nigeria.
The company described Bouyer as “A graduate of the Ecole Centrale in France, Matthieu Bouyer joined Total in 2005 through the Exploration & Production Facilities Engineer program.

“He held various high-level positions in Operations, Field Development, Engineering, Project Management in Africa, Asia, France, and Middle East.

“In 2015, Matthieu worked at the headquarters of the company as a Strategy Analyst on key long-term projects and activities of the company across the world.

“He moved to London in 2017 within the Investor Relations Entity where he was involved with other top executives in the building relations with shareholders and monitoring the performance of TotalEnergies in the financial market.”