Total oil company CEO dies in Moscow plane crash
(Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this report misspelled the name of the airport in Moscow.)
The death of a French oil executive whose plane crashed Monday in Moscow sparked tributes from business and world leaders, including Russia's Vladimir Putin.
In a statement on its website, Total oil company confirmed "with deep regret and great sadness'' that its CEO Christophe de Margerie was killed late Monday when his private plane crashed at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, after striking a snow plow. Three crewmembers also died in the crash, the company said.
According to TASS, the Russian News Agency, Margerie and the crew were heading back to Paris when the collision and crash occurred.
The Associated Press reported that Russian investigators looking into the accident said the snowplow driver had been intoxicated. He was not injured.
In a written translation of a videotaped statement on Total's website, the company's chief administrative officer Jean-Jacques Guilbaud said "Mr. de Margerie devoted his life to building and promoting Total in France and internationally . . . As he would have wished, the company must continue to move forward. Total is organized to ensure the continuity of both its governance and its business, allowing it to manage the consequences of this tragic loss.''
Oil prices, which have been dropping in recent weeks, were up at the end of trading Tuesday. West Texas Intermediate was up 10 cents to $82.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent rose 94 cents to $86.34.
De Margerie, 63, was considered a statesman as well as a savvy corporate leader.
"Christophe de Margerie's death is a great loss at a time of great change in world energy,'' said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of the global information and analytics company IHS, in a statement. "He was both an outstanding oil and gas man and a great leader in the world economy. ... He was a statesman who would speak his mind, though with verve and humor. And he was a man of great vitality and charm."
Edward Djerejian, founding director of Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy said that "what was unique about Christophe as an energy company CEO was the geopolitical depth and policy experience that he had, not only in the Middle East but in other parts of the world, which he translated in his corporate role into tremendous access to foreign leaders.''
De Margerie had spoken out strongly against sanctions recently imposed on Russia, where his company also had investments.
"I think as a European ... he was concerned that the confrontations with Russia might lead to another cold war, which in a policy sense he thought was a bridge too far,'' said Djerejian. "So I think he was advocating a policy of more accommodation. There was both a policy side to his analysis and obviously as a CEO of Total, he obviously had a corporate interest.''
Tass reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to French President Francois Hollande offering his condolences and calling de Margerie "a distinguished French businessman who stood at the origins of the major joint projects which have laid the basis for the fruitful cooperation between Russia and France in the energy sphere for many years.''