Oil giant and Total has announced the tragic death of their Chairman and CEO Christophe de Margerie. In a statement psoted on their website the company stated “Total confirms with deep regret and great sadness that Chairman and CEO Christophe de Margerie died just after 10pm (Paris time) on October 20 in a private plane crash at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, following a collision with a snow removal machine. According to an airport spokeswoman Elena Krylova said: “Tonight, a plane crashed when it collided with a snow-clearing machine. Three crew members and a passenger died.”
“I can confirm that the passenger was Total’s head de Margerie,” she said.
Mr de Margerie, 63, had been chief executive of Europe’s third largest oil company since 2007.
The collision happened as de Margerie’s private jet was trying to take off at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.
Russia’s emergencies ministry said in a statement the accident had involved a Falcon-50 plane shortly before midnight local time (20:00 GMT) on Monday.
The jet had been due to fly to Paris. The three crew members were all French.
Reports say the visibility at airport was 350m (1,150ft).
An investigation is now under way.
The Total executive was highly regarded within the oil industry. At the company, where he had spent his entire career, he was nicknamed “Big Moustache”.
He joined Total Group after graduating from the Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Paris in 1974.
