Jean Christian Bergeron, Rubis Energy Kenya boss who was in 2022 deported from Nairobi before making a quiet return six months later, has been recalled to Paris by the company’s parent firm, ending his time as the boss of the third largest oil marketer in Kenya.
Popular as JPB in the local oil industry, Mr Bergeron’s five-year tenure as the chief executive for East Africa and managing director of Rubis Energy Kenya ended this week.
Mr Bergeron’s name featured prominently in 2022 at the peak of the countrywide fuel shortage, when he was hastily deported after the government accused Rubis Kenya of causing the outage of diesel and petrol through alleged excess export of the commodities to neighbouring countries.
He has been replaced by Olivier Sabrié who brings with him experience spanning over 30 years in the oil industry, a period that included being the chairman and managing director of TotalEnergies Marketing India.
“This journey has been incredibly fulfilling. Seeing the Rubis brand become a trusted name in East Africa households and businesses is a source of immense pride,” Mr Bergeron said in a statement.
Mr Bergeron was the boss of the French oil marketer when it entered Kenya in 2019 and helped it cement its position as the third biggest oil firm behind TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya and Vivo Energy Kenya.
But while his time at the helm of Rubis was largely quiet and successful, the fuel shortage that hit Kenya in April 2022 left Mr Bergeron at loggerheads with the government of the then President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The State Directorate of Immigration revoked his visa on April 14, 2022, and ordered him to immediately leave the country, as the government cracked the whip on CEOs of oil firms that it accused of engineering the fuel shortage that nearly crippled the country’s transport sector for weeks.
Mr Bergeron’s deportation came despite spirited efforts by the parent firm Rubis Energie and the French government to avert the forced exit.
He then quietly returned to Nairobi less than a month after President William Ruto ascended to the presidency in September 2022 and resumed his role at the helm of Rubis in Kenya and the East Africa region.
Mr Bergeron kept a low profile upon his return, infrequently working from the Rubis Kenya offices in Nairobi while keeping away from the public engagements of the oil industry.
His deportation made him the biggest casualty of the government clampdown, given that CEOs of the other nine leading oil firms were also under probe over the fuel shortage fiasco.
Mr Bergeron helped grow Rubis Kenya to command a market share of 14.05 percent as at the end of last year, behind TotalEnergies at 14.88 percent and market leader Vivo Energy at 22.07 percent.
His successor, Mr Sabrié will be tasked with growing the market share of the firm which rose from the merger of the former KenolKobil and Gulf Energy.
