Didier Harel

"These negotiations will ensure Total SA meets the black economic empowerment goals," said Total SA chief executive Didier Harel.

The new shareholders "will be involved in all areas of the business of Total SA," Harel added.The company's parent and two other shareholders, Remgro and Old Mutual, had approved the agreement.

The news follows a report by CARtoday.com last month that high-level negotiations had been taking place ahead of an announcement of a major black empowerment deal by Total SA.

Total SA spokesman Khulu Ntshingila said most South African oil companies had made significant progress towards fulfilling the requirements of the energy charter, which stipulates 25 per cent ownership by historically disadvantaged groups within 10 years.

For its part, Total SA had implemented black economic empowerment in its procurement practices and had outsourced road transportation of its products to black contractors - a business worth R80 million a year, he added.Ntshingila said change had become a business imperative for the oil industry, but it was up to government to ensure the sustainability of the industry.

The construction of the complex should create 3 500 jobs and will be a joint venture between the eThekwini (Durban) unicity and Moreland, the property arm of Tongaat-Hulett, said Didier Harel, Total SA's chief executive.

"This development we are starting is part of a deliberate focus by Durban's unicity and the private sector on developing and stimulating the local economy.

"Our new ‘petroport' represents the most money in rand terms that we have put into any single development of this kind in South Africa," said Harel, who added that the complex was intended to be the "newest and most modern" of its kind in South Africa.

Total SA also intended to hand over the reigns of the "petroport" to a franchisee from a previously disadvantaged group, Harel said."Negotiations with a prospective dealer are already far advanced," he added.

Development of the complex, which will employ about 160 people, will commence in September and is scheduled to open a year later.The Effingham interchange will also be completed next September, the report said.

Post Comment

Total South Africa and its chief executive, Didier Harel, have three reasons to celebrate this month - the company has just completed its black economic empowerment (BEE) equity transaction, Paris-based parent TotalFinaElf has changed its name to Total and Bastille Day happens next week.

As the largest French investor in South Africa, the company has been at the forefront of transformation in the R80 billion-a-year oil industry, in which Total is a significant player with a 12 percent market share.

In the 25 years he has worked for oil companies in Africa, Harel says the past couple of years have been the most challenging and exciting, mainly because of the spice added by the need to transform the company in line with the liquid fuel charter.

As head of a company in a closely regulated sector of strategic importance, Harel has to manage a sophistcated business that ranges from oil refining to fuel retailing and that handles products from liquid gas, petrol, diesel and aviation fuel to lubricants, cosmetics and agricultural fertilisers.

Didier Harel Total UK Ltd