French oil & gas giant hires new head of IR

Paris-headquartered Total has named long-standing employee Mike Sangster as its new head of investor relations.

Prior to joining the investor relations team, Sangster was managing director of Total exploration and production (E&P) in Australia. His predecessor, Martin Deffontaines, who led the IR team for just over three years, has moved into a new role as E&P senior vice president of strategy, business development and R&D, making way for Sangster’s shift into IR.

Mike Sangster, Total

Sangster has held a variety of positions in E&P within Total since joining the firm in 1995. The company has operations in more than 130 countries, and before his role in Australia – which he held since 2010 – Sangster was president and general manager of Total’s upstream subsidiary in Thailand.

The company’s upstream division encompasses the E&P business as well as its gas & power division, and produced 2.3 mn barrels of oil equivalent during 2013. Total also focuses on two renewable energies: solar and biomass.

Sangster’s other roles have included vice president of economics, strategy and planning, vice president of business development and strategy for Total E&P USA, and senior international negotiator. The University of Aberdeen electrical engineer graduate also served as corporate development manager for Scottish Power before moving to Total.

He joins the mega-cap company only months after the firm appointed Patrick Pouyanné as CEO, and Thierry Desmarest chairman, following the death of chairman and CEO Christophe de Margerie in an air crash in Moscow in October last year. De Margerie had led the company since 2007, first as CEO before adding the role of chairman in 2010.