CEO of French oil giant Total killed at Moscow airport

[Martinus]

Media here say that he was actually rather Putin friendly and saying that Europe won't can't and needn't live without Russian gas.

It might be a case of picking quotes out of context.

The quote I picked was Putin-friendly. That was what I was alluding to. 

I was expressing a mix of Schadenfreude with an allusion (hope?) he was offed by "our" guys.

[derspiess]

It was: a total loss.

Don't talk shit about Total!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpX7aT70ZJI

[Sheilbh]

You have to be a special kind of a useful idiot to keep thinking that investing in Russia is a sound and morally defensible strategy.  A bit ironic that a Russian collaborator CEO got killed in classic Russian way.

Is he really a useful idiot though?  After all, he's enriching himself.  Since he doesn't care about the situation any further than that, he's just utterly immoral.

Arguably still a useful idiot. Foreign companies often end up getting shafted once they're not needed. See BP.

[Martinus]

A bit more on the dearly departed:

Total oil CEO Christophe de Margerie killed in Moscow plane crash
Head of oil giant and three crew died when private jet hit snowplough during takeoff, say Russian sources

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Staff and agencies
theguardian.com, Tuesday 21 October 2014 06.28 BST
Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of Total Oil, in a 2008 file photograph.
Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of Total Oil, in a 2008 file photograph. Photograph: Michel Euler/AP
The chief executive of the French oil company Total, Christophe de Margerie, was killed when a private jet collided with a snow plough at Moscow's Vnukovo international airport on Monday night.

"Tonight a plane crashed when it collided with a snow-clearing machine," said airport spokeswoman Elena Krylova. "Three crew members and a passenger died. I can confirm that the passenger was Total's head De Margerie."

The oil company said in a statement: "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."

The collision occurred just before midnight as the Dassault Falcon business jet attempted to take off bound for Paris.

De Margerie, 63, was on a list of attendees at a Russian government meeting on foreign investment in Gorki, near Moscow, on Monday. Hours before his death he had met the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, at his country residence outside Moscow to discuss foreign investment in Russia, the 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 11.57pm 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 said that visibility was at 350 metres at the time of the accident. Moscow saw its first snowfall of the winter on Monday. A fire broke out after the crash and was extinguished by airport firefighters.

Moscow transport investigators said they had opened a criminal probe into breaches of aviation safety rules causing multiple deaths through negligence. French authorities would be invited to take part. The plane's black boxes had been removed for examination.

The airport was closed temporarily to clear up the scene of the accident but resumed normal operations at 1.30am.

With his distinctive bushy moustache and outspoken manner he was one of the most recognisable figures among the world's top oil executives.

De Margerie, a graduate of the Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Paris, became chief executive officer of Total in February 2007, taking on the additional role of chairman in May 2010, after previously running its exploration and production division.

De Margerie said in July that he should be judged based on new projects launched under his watch, such as a string of African fields, and that Total would seek a successor from within the company rather than an outsider. Philippe Boisseau, head of Total's new energy division, and Patrick Pouyanne, who was tasked with reducing the group's exposure to unprofitable European refining sectors, have long been seen as potential heirs.

A staunch defender of Russia and its energy policies amid the conflict in Ukraine, De Margerie told Reuters in a July interview that Europe should stop thinking about cutting its dependence on Russian gas and focus instead on making those deliveries safer.

He said tensions between the west and Russia were pushing Moscow closer to China, as illustrated by a $400bn deal to supply Beijing with gas that was clinched in May.

"Are we going to build a new Berlin Wall?" he said. "Russia is a partner and we shouldn't waste time protecting ourselves from a neighbour ... What we are looking to do is not to be too dependent on any country, no matter which. Not from Russia, which has saved us on numerous occasions."

Total is one of the major oil companies most exposed to Russia, where its output will double to represent more than a tenth of its global portfolio by 2020.

Total is one of the top foreign investors in Russia but its future there grew cloudy after the 17 July downing of a Malaysian passenger airliner over Ukrainian territory held by pro-Russian rebels. The disaster worsened the oil-rich country's relations with the west and raised the threat of deeper sanctions.

Total said in September that sanctions would not stop it working on the Yamal project, a $27bn joint venture investment to tap vast natural gas reserves in north-west Siberia that aims to double Russia's stake in the fast-growing market for liquefied natural gas.

De Margerie said then that Europe could not live without Russian gas, adding that there was no reason to do so.

Total is the fourth largest by market value of the western world's top oil companies behind Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron. Russia accounted for about 9% of Total's oil and gas output in 2013.

The oil company had forecast in April that Russia would become its biggest source of oil and gas by 2020 due to its partnership with the Russian energy company Novatek and the Yamal project.

Total SA is France's second-biggest listed company with a market value of €102bn.

Like other big oil companies Total has been under pressure from shareholders to cut costs and raise dividends as rising costs in the industry and weaker oil prices squeeze profitability.

De Margerie was the son of diplomats and business leaders, and the grandson of Pierre Taittinger, founder of Taittinger champagne and the luxury goods dynasty.

"His death is a big loss for the global oil/gas industry," said Gordon Kwan, head of Asia-Pacific oil and gas research at the financial company Nomura.

1. God exists.
2. He is a socialist.
3. He has a sense of humour.

[LaCroix]

a loss to the oil industry is a loss to mankind.

[Neil]

You have to be a special kind of a useful idiot to keep thinking that investing in Russia is a sound and morally defensible strategy.  A bit ironic that a Russian collaborator CEO got killed in classic Russian way.

Is he really a useful idiot though?  After all, he's enriching himself.  Since he doesn't care about the situation any further than that, he's just utterly immoral.

Arguably still a useful idiot. Foreign companies often end up getting shafted once they're not needed. See BP.

You're assuming that the CEO of Total cares deeply about how Total does.  Even if Russia expropriates everything next year, he would still be rich.  Moreover, as a CEO, his only concern is quarterly earnings reports.

[Syt]

http://rt.com/news/198368-four-detained-vnukovo-total/

4 Vnukovo employees detained, questioned over Total CEO jet crash

The head and deputy-head of Vnukovo Airport have resigned, the airport's press service announced amid the ongoing investigation into the plane crash that killed Total CEO Christophe de Margerie and three crewmembers.

"Due to tragic events on the night of October 20 to 21, the head of the Vnukovo International Airport Andrey Diakov and deputy head, Lieutenant-General of Aviation in Reserve Sergey Solntsev, have resigned. The resignations have been accepted," said a statement.

Earlier four Vnukovo Airport employees were detained and questioned, Russian Investigative Committee announced.

"The leading airfield maintenance engineer Vladimir Ledenev, who was managing the snow-removing work, flight operations director Roman Dunayev, trainee air traffic controller Svetlana Krivsun, and traffic controller Aleksander Kruglov, who was leading the air traffic at the time of the crash, have been detained," Investigative Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin said.

Those detained have been questioned as suspects in the incident, Markin noted as they are suspected of violating the security requirements of the flights and for failing to conduct ground checks, which investigators allege led to a tragedy.

Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) experts are continuing the investigation at Vnukovo Airport.

"At the moment, the IAC continues to work at the crash site. Fragments of the aircraft are being inspected," the committee said in a press release Wednesday. "At the same time information is being gathered at the airport and the actions of air traffic control, emergency teams and other services are being analyzed," the press release added.

Radar data and CCTV footage along with meteorological conditions at the time of the accident are also being evaluated with the participation of French specialists.

"IAC is confident that together with our French colleagues and aviation experts we will conduct the most thorough, independent and impartial investigation," the committee's press release said.

On Tuesday, IAC announced that it had set up a special commission to investigate the crash. Experts from French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) are in Moscow to assist the investigation which is considering two main possibilities into the cause of the fatal crash – a traffic control error and the actions of the snowplow driver.

The black boxes from the crash will take up to 3 days to decode, a spokesman from the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) said Wednesday.

"Experts have already begun decoding the data on the black boxes. The decoding will take two to three days. That's in regard to the flight data recorder. The amount of time needed to transcribe the voice recorder depends on the French [experts]."

The committee maintains its finding that the snowplow driver had alcohol in his blood at the time of the accident, but the driver, Vladimir Martynenko, as well as his lawyer have denied the allegations.

READ MORE: Total CEO plane crash plow driver drank liquor-laced coffee – reports

"When I lost the mark, I didn't even notice that I entered the runway... The plane was taking off. I almost didn't see or hear it because of the working machinery and there were no lights... So there was a crash," Martynenko told the investigators during the first interrogation. The snow plow driver said that he never even noticed the lights from the jet as he believes he never drove onto the flight strip as he was making snow clearing rounds.

Martynenko's lawyer in the meantime says his client is still in shock which may explain any inconsistencies in his testimony. He also said Martynenko is suffering from an acute heart condition and does not drink at all.

[Jacob]

It does seem that flying in or anywhere near Russia is dangerous, whether you are a politician, a businessman, or simply taking a commercial flight.

[Martinus]

I guess he did want to get closer with Russia.

[Malthus]

I guess it is time for Russian snow-plows to get "dash-cams".