MOSCOW: Total confirmed the death of the 63-year-old early today. The Total Group confirms with great and profound sadness that its CEO Christophe de Margerie died last night shortly after 10pm (Paris time) in an air crash at Vnukovo airport in Moscow following a collision with a snow removing machine,” Total said in a statement.
Just hours earlier De Margerie had met Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his country residence outside Moscow to discuss foreign investment in Russia, Vedomosti business daily reported.
The Vnukovo airport said in a statement that the Falcon Dassault business aviation jet crashed as it prepared to take off for Paris with one passenger and three crew on board. During run-up at 11:57 pm, there was a collision with the airport´s snow plough. As a result of the crash, the passenger and all the crew members died,” the airport´s statement said.
The crash is being investigated by the Interstate Aviation Committee, which probes all Russian air crashes, and experts from Russia´s federal aviation agency, the airport said.The head of the federal aviation agency, Alexander Neradko, has taken charge of the investigation, the Interfax news agency reported.
French experts were set to take part in the investigation, Interfax reported, citing a source in the rescue operation. The French side is informed. They should send experts. This will happen very soon,” the source was cited as saying.
He had worked for the company for 40 years, spending his entire career there, and was known affectionately as the “Big Moustache” because of his prominent facial hair which was his most striking feature. The son of diplomats and business leaders, he was the grandson of Pierre Taittinger, founder of Taittinger champagne and the luxury goods dynasty.
Highly regarded within the oil industry, De Margerie admitted the allegations had taken their toll on the company. “Most people, when they speak of Total do not know what it is, but know it is not good,” he said in 2009.
Total said in September that work on constructing a new natural gas liquefaction plant in Yamal in northwestern Siberia was continuing despite EU and US sanctions on Russia over its role in the conflict in Ukraine. Total is developing the plant with Novatek of Russia and Chinese oil group CNPC.
Bureau Report
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