Total CEO Christophe de Margerie Dies in Plane Crash

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday October 21, 2014

Total today has confirmed that its Chairman and CEO Christophe de Margerie died yesterday, just after 10pm Paris time on October 20, 2014 following a plane crash at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow.

Christophe de Margerie and three crew members were found dead at the scene after a private plane collided with a snow removal machine, Total said.

Total had recently entered into the Russian shale market under a Siberian drilling venture with OAO Lukoil, and is also partners with Russian gas producer Novatek and China National Petroleum Corp. in the Yamal Peninsula Russian gas development.

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.