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Christophe de Margerie, the Total SA (FP) chief
executive officer who oversaw the biggest increase in
reserves at the French oil explorer in at least 15 years,
died in a Moscow plane crash, Interfax reported.
The 63-year-old CEO died at Moscow’s Vnukovo
Airport when a business jet crashed, Interfax said,
citing an unidentified law enforcement official. Four
people aboard a Dassault Aviation SA Falcon jet
died when it crashed into a snowplow late
yesterday, Elena Krylova, a spokeswoman for the
airport, said by phone, adding it’s against policy to
name the victims.
Russian officials started an investigation into the
crash of the plane, which was headed to Paris, the
Moscow regional transport prosecutor’s office said in
a statement. Calls to Total spokesman Charles-
Etienne Lebatard and to the French Foreign Ministry
weren’t immediately returned.
During a 40-year career that began in Total’s finance
unit, de Margerie oversaw far-flung operations for the
French petroleum giant from Indonesia to the Middle
East to Kazakhstan. Earlier this year he helped
negotiate the Paris-based company’s entry into
Russian shale under a Siberian drilling venture with
OAO Lukoil; the company also is a partner in the
vast Russian gas development on the Yamal
Peninsula.
Big Mustache
Nicknamed the “Big Mustache” for his ample white
whiskers, de Margerie cut a larger-than-life figure at
international energy conferences including IHS Inc.’s
CERAWeek event in Houston earlier this year when he
discussed the impact of surging exploration and
drilling costs on oil producers and consumers.
As CEO, de Margerie could be seen lingering with a
glass of whisky in hand talking with analysts and
industry representatives long after the end of
conferences he addressed.
Total is the world’s fourth-largest non-state energy
company by market value, after Exxon Mobil Corp.,
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp., according
to data compiled by Bloomberg. The French
company’s $228 billion in annual sales exceeds the
economic output of nations such as Ireland and
Vietnam.
Under de Margerie’s reign, reserves-life, or the number
of years of current production that could be
replicated using existing reserves, rose in every year
but one, the longest such streak for Total since at
least 1998.
Total was reevaluating plans to explore for shale oil
in Western Siberia with partner OAO Lukoil amid
economic sanctions against Russia , the company
said last month.
Credits-Bloomberg
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