TotalEnergies has changed leadership in Kazakhstan. Effective September 1, 2026, Mourad Thabouti has taken over as head of the French energy group’s representative office in the country, bringing more than 20 years of experience in energy, corporate finance and joint venture management, DKNews.kz reports.
According to the company’s press release, Thabouti succeeds Frode Younes, who had led TotalEnergies’ operations in Kazakhstan since August 2022.
The leadership change comes as TotalEnergies continues to expand both its oil and gas and renewable energy activities in Kazakhstan. The company remains a shareholder in the Kashagan project while also advancing the large-scale Mirny wind power project.
Thabouti brings experience from Qatar, Algeria, Libya and Paris
Mourad Thabouti has spent much of his career within TotalEnergies, working across the company’s operations in France, Qatar, Algeria and Libya.
Before moving to Kazakhstan, he served at TotalEnergies’ headquarters in Paris, where he was responsible for consolidated budgeting and reporting in the Exploration & Production segment and oversaw the group’s global upstream activities.
Earlier in his career, Thabouti served as Chief Financial Officer of North Oil Company in Qatar and Groupement Timimoun in Algeria.
Both businesses operate through major joint ventures involving national energy companies and international partners. That experience is particularly relevant in Kazakhstan, where TotalEnergies participates in several large projects with complex shareholder structures.
Before entering the energy industry, Thabouti worked at Ernst & Young in France in audit and internal control. He holds a master’s degree in management from HEC Paris, has French and Tunisian citizenship, and speaks French, English and Arabic.
A 16.81% stake in Kashagan is among the key assets
One of TotalEnergies’ most significant assets in Kazakhstan is located in the North Caspian Sea.
The company holds a 16.81% stake in the North Caspian project, which includes the giant Kashagan oil field. The same ownership share is listed on TotalEnergies’ official Kazakhstan page.
Kashagan gives the company’s Kazakhstan operations strategic weight far beyond that of a conventional foreign representative office. TotalEnergies is involved in one of the country’s largest oil developments and must work within a consortium of Kazakh and international partners.
During Frode Younes’ tenure, TotalEnergies represented its interests on the North Caspian project’s Shareholders Committee. The period also saw the completion of the strategic transaction involving the transfer of rights to the Dunga oil field.
Younes completed his assignment in Kazakhstan on August 31 but will remain with TotalEnergies. According to the company, he will lead a new project at its headquarters.
Mirny takes TotalEnergies beyond Kazakhstan’s oil sector
The second major area that now falls under Thabouti’s leadership is power generation.
Together with Kazakh partners, TotalEnergies is developing the 1 GW Mirny wind power project in the Zhambyl Region.
TotalEnergies owns 60% of the Aktas Energy joint venture, while Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Energy and national oil and gas company KazMunayGas each hold 20%.
In April 2026, TotalEnergies took the final investment decision on Mirny and secured financing for the project. According to the company’s official announcement, investment is estimated at around $1.2 billion.
The project includes 150 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 1 GW, as well as a battery energy storage system with 600 MWh of storage capacity.
On its dedicated Mirny project page, TotalEnergies says electricity generated by the facility will be supplied to Kazakhstan’s national power grid under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
For the new country head, this means overseeing two very different parts of Kazakhstan’s energy economy: a major Caspian oil asset and a billion-dollar renewable energy project.
Two solar plants have generated more than 1 billion kWh
TotalEnergies also operates solar power assets in Kazakhstan.
The company runs the 100 MW M-KAT solar power plant in the Zhambyl Region and the 28 MW NOMAD facility in the Kyzylorda Region.
According to TotalEnergies, the two plants have generated more than 1 billion kWh of renewable electricity since they were commissioned in late 2019.
The company’s global website also lists its operating solar capacity in Kazakhstan at a combined 128 MW.
Beyond oil, gas and power generation, TotalEnergies is active in Kazakhstan’s lubricants and motor oils market and, together with the Qazaq Oil filling station network, offers Tulpar premium fuel.
New leadership comes during a period of major investment
Thabouti’s professional background offers a clear indication of the issues likely to dominate his work in Kazakhstan. Finance, operational management and cooperation between partners in large joint ventures have been central to his international career.
He now takes charge of TotalEnergies’ operations in a market where the group simultaneously holds a 16.81% stake in Kashagan and is developing the approximately $1.2 billion Mirny renewable energy project.
We previously reported on Kazakhstan and France moving the Mirny project into its implementation phase. With a planned capacity of 1 GW, the project has become one of the largest elements of energy cooperation between the two countries.
