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Christophe de Margerie, C.E.O. of Total, French Oil Giant, Dies in Accident
The Death of Total’s Chief Executive Is Felt Across National Borders
(about 11 hours later)
MOSCOW — The chief executive of the French oil company Total, Christophe de Margerie, one of the most powerful and colorful figures in the energy industry, was killed when his business jet collided with a snowplow late Monday night on a runway of Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow.
MOSCOW — At the country house of the Russian prime minister on Monday, the head of the French oil company Total, Christophe de Margerie, criticized Western sanctions against Russia, again demonstrating his strong personality in the face of the global sanctions war.
Mr. de Margerie, a staunch defender of Russia’s energy policies during the conflict over Ukraine, went to Moscow to attend a meeting of corporate executives with Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev and was returning to Paris.
A few hours later, as his private jet tried to take off in midnight fog for the flight back to Paris, Mr. de Margerie, 63, the chief executive of the world’s fourth-biggest oil company and one of France’s biggest private employers, died in a crash after his aircraft hit a snowplow.
The collision occurred a few minutes before midnight as the executive’s Dassault Falcon was accelerating for takeoff, the airport said in a statement. Russian prosecutors said Tuesday that the driver of the snowplow was intoxicated. The jet’s three crew members also died, Total said.
As Total expressed shock on Tuesday at his death, the oil industry in its first drafts of history might record him as a shuttle diplomat, one whose mission was overcoming East-West tensions in the name of getting on with the business of doing business.
“The thoughts of the management and employees of the group go out to Christophe de Margerie’s wife, children and loved ones as well as to the families of the three other victims,” the company said in a statement.
Mr. de Margerie, who started with the company in 1974 and became chief executive in 2007, was one of the most powerful and colorful figures in the energy industry, and a prominent voice in Europe in opposing sanctions against Russia.
Mr. de Margerie, 63, led the fourth-largest of the Western multinational major oil companies by market capitalization, after Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron, and the second-largest company in France after the drug maker Sanofi.
Analysts say the bench of possible successors is strong, but a new leader will confront challenges. Total’s shares have fallen about 19 percent from the time Mr. de Margerie became chief. That is comparable to shares of BP, but substantially behind the performance of Exxon Mobil, up 24 percent over the same period, and Shell, up about 3.1 percent.
A member of one of the most prominent families in France, Mr. de Margerie was a grandson of the founder of the Taittinger Champagne house and the latest in a long line of ambassadors and business leaders.
Even before the collision, Patrick Pouyanné, Total’s president of refining and chemicals, was often mentioned as an eventual replacement. Mr. Pouyanné, 50, is considered to have done a good job handling the tricky task of reducing his unit’s size in Europe and has the benefit of having run the company’s business in Qatar, an important location for Total.
Known as “Big Mustache” among his colleagues for his trademark facial hair, he cut a swashbuckling figure and was on friendly terms with a wide range of industry and political figures. He often spent late nights debating the issues of the day and telling jokes with friends, and he was said by colleagues to require little sleep.
Another candidate is Philippe Boisseau, 52, who heads the marketing and alternative energy business. Oil companies often pick the head of exploration and production as chief executive, but at Total, Arnaud Breuillac has held that role less than a year.
He was also a strong manager who inspired respect and admiration, even if his late-night revelries sometimes exasperated his colleagues. He helped position Total in countries like Qatar, Russia and Saudi Arabia as a company that could provide Western capital and technology but that was less tied to the interests of the United States and Britain than rivals like ExxonMobil and BP.
Neither executive, though, is known for having an outsize personality, as Mr. de Margerie did. Called Big Mustache by his colleagues because of his trademark facial hair, Mr. de Margerie cut a swashbuckling figure on friendly terms with a wide range of industry and political figures.
“Mr. de Margerie is one of the most central and characteristic figures in the industry, and in our view, his loss will be deeply felt at Total both personally and organizationally,” Peter Hutton, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in London, wrote in an email. “He has been a stronger driver of strategy, execution and culture of the company than most C.E.O.s, and while there is a strong management team, this will lead to a sense of void at the center for some time.”
Mr. de Margerie spoke on Monday to a business alliance group at a home of the Russian prime minister, Dmitri A. Medvedev.
Mr. de Margerie started with the company in 1974 and rose from positions in the finance and exploration divisions. He was a close associate of Thierry Desmarest, who built Total into a giant through a series of mergers culminating with the takeover of Elf Aquitaine in 2000.
“We are against sanctions,” Mr. de Margerie told the group, according to a transcript. “You have heard it. And I have not made myself very popular in my own country, as I am often accused of promoting our selfish interest.”
After becoming chief executive in 2007, Mr. de Margerie helped consolidate the merger. And he broadened Total’s base, expanding into Russia and the oil sands in Canada. He was also on good terms with Saudi oil figures and recently scored a coup by building a large refinery in the country, OPEC’s leading producer.
The accident — in which officials contend that the snowplow driver, who survived, was drunk and the control tower staff erred — was still under investigation.
He helped make Total one of the largest players in British and Norwegian waters. Recently, he made a small investment in British shale, possibly with the intention of provoking the French government, which so far has prevented oil companies from exploring for France’s potentially rich shale oil and gas deposits.
Mr. de Margerie helped Total establish itself in places like Qatar as a company that could provide Western capital and technology but that was less tied to the interests of the United States and Britain than were rivals like Exxon Mobil and BP.
In a statement, the Élysée Palace said that President François Hollande appreciated Mr. de Margerie’s “independent character, his originality and his attachment to his country.”
“Mr. de Margerie is one of the most central and characteristic figures in the industry, and in our view, his loss will be deeply felt at Total,” Peter Hutton, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in London, wrote in an email. “He has been a stronger driver of strategy, execution and culture of the company than most C.E.O.s, and while there is a strong management team, this will lead to a sense of void at the center for some time.”
“Under Mr. de Margerie, Total became one of the leading global companies,” the statement said. “Abroad, Mr. Christophe de Margerie brilliantly defended the level of excellence and success of French technology.”
Mr. de Margerie rose from positions in the finance and exploration divisions and was a close associate of Thierry Desmarest, who built Total into a giant through mergers culminating with the takeover of Elf Aquitaine in 2000.
While Mr. de Margerie was not an overtly political figure, he has accompanied Mr. Hollande on state visits to Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Poland, among others.
After becoming chief executive, Mr. de Margerie helped consolidate the merger and broadened Total’s base, expanding into Russia and the oil sands in Canada. He was also on good terms with oil figures in Saudi Arabia and recently scored a coup by building a large refinery in the country, the leading producer among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Mr. de Margerie had not been a big winner for investors. The company’s stock price has fallen by about 16 percent since he became chief executive.
He helped make Total one of the largest players in British and Norwegian waters. Recently, he made a small investment in British shale, possibly with the intention of provoking the French government, which thus far has prevented oil companies from exploring France’s own potentially rich deposits of shale oil and gas.
Shares in Total fell as trading began in Paris, recovered by midmorning and were up about 2.7 percent at midday. European stocks broadly posted gains and oil company shares rose as crude prices seemed to at least temporarily stabilize.
France, like other big European countries with strong business ties to Russia, was initially reluctant to press for sanctions against Moscow after the Ukraine tensions first flared this year. Mr. de Margerie spoke loudly and publicly against sanctions.
Analysts say the bench of possible successors to Mr. de Margerie is strong, though none has his outsize personality.
President Vladimir V. Putin sent a message to President François Hollande of France, saying Russia had “lost a true friend of our country.”
Often mentioned as a candidate is Patrick Pouyanné, Total’s president of refining and chemicals. Mr. Pouyanné is considered to have done a good job handling the tricky task of reducing his unit’s size in Europe and also has the benefit of having run the company’s business in Qatar, an important location for the company.
Another candidate is Philippe Boisseau, who heads the gas and alternative energy business. Oil companies often pick the head of exploration and production as chief executive, but Arnaud Breuillac has held the role less than a year.
The Interstate Aviation Committee, an agency that investigates plane crashes in former Soviet states, said that it had opened an inquiry into the accident — a type known as a runway incursion — and that the French authorities would be invited to join in the work.
The Russian state news channel Rossiya 24 reported that a thick fog shrouded Vnukovo airport overnight on Tuesday and that several planes could not land and were redirected to other Moscow airports.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted an aviation expert speculating that the Dassault pilot had tried to take off early to avoid the snowplow on the runway but snared the vehicle’s roof with the aircraft’s wheels and crashed.
The snowplow driver was not injured, according to the statement from the airport.
The Investigative Committee, a Russian law enforcement organization responsible for determining criminal culpability in crashes, said in a statement that it was considering “an error of the flight controllers or actions of the snowplow driver as key versions of the accident,” along with poor weather and pilot error.
“It has already been established that the snowplow driver was in a state of alcoholic intoxication,” the statement said. “It is possible a decision will be made to suspend a number of the airport employees for the period of the inquiry.”
Despite the imposition of sanctions on Russia this year, the major oil companies have tried to conduct business in Russia as usual, given their tremendous investments in the country, and Mr. de Margerie’s presence in Moscow was notable in this context.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sent a message to Mr. Hollande saying Russia had “lost a true friend of our country.”
In the business world, Mr. de Margerie had gained attention for his public opposition to the sanctions applied by the United States and Europe.
“He was one of few who spoke out against the isolation of Russia, against creating obstacles to obtaining credit,” Aleksandr Konovalov, an energy analyst, told RIA Novosti. “He was an advocate for integrating Russia in the world economy, and not on the side of isolation.”
Total is a minority owner of a Russian oil field, the Kharyaga field, and an investor in the Russian natural gas company Novatek, the second-largest gas producer in Russia after Gazprom. Total produced 179,000 barrels of oil and the equivalent in natural gas in Russia in 2012, the company said.
In Total’s most ambitious project in Russia to date, the company was a partner in Novatek’s plans to build a plant to liquefy natural gas on the Yamal Peninsula of Russia and ship fuel to China over seaways in the Arctic Ocean that were newly opened because of global warming.
Mr. de Margerie was an outspoken supporter of Russia’s position in natural gas pricing and transportation disputes with Ukraine, telling Reuters in an interview in July that Europe should not cut dependence on Russian gas but rather focus on making the supplies more secure, comparing the standoff with Moscow to building “a new Berlin Wall.”
