Christophe de Margerie

The Colder War

The conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Total SA’s chief executive, Christophe de Margerie, started the second the news broke of his death. Under mysterious circumstances in Moscow, his private jet collided with a snowplow just after midnight. De Margerie was the CEO of Total, France’s largest oil company.

He’d just attended a private meeting with Russian Prime Minister Medvedev, at a time when the West’s relationship with Russia is fraught, to say the least.

One has better odds of being struck by lightning at an airport then a snow plow, or any other ground support vehicles hitting a plane and killing all inside the plane, in my opinion. And I say that as someone who’s familiar with airports, having worked at Vancouver International Airport when I was in university; I was the one who would bring the plane into its parking bay.

If it weren’t for those short odds, a snowplow on the runway with an allegedly drunk driver would be the perfect crime. But who would benefit from his death?

De Margerie was one of the few business leaders who spoke out against the isolation of Russia. On this last trip to Moscow, he railed against sanctions and the obstacles to Russian companies obtaining credit.

He was also an outspoken supporter of Russia’s position in natural gas pricing and transportation disputes with Ukraine, telling Reuters in an interview in July that Europe should not cut its dependence on Russian gas but rather focus on making the supplies more secure.

But what could have made de Margerie a total liability is Total’s involvement in plans to build a plant to liquefy natural gas on the Yamal Peninsula of Russia in partnership with Novatek. Its most ambitious project in Russia to date, it would facilitate the shipping of 800 million barrels of oil equivalent of LNG to China via the Arctic.

Compounding this sin, Total had just announced that it’s seeking financing for a gas project in Russia in spite of the current sanctions against Russia. It planned to finance its share in the $27-billion Yamal project using euros, yuan, Russian rubles, and any other currency but US dollars.

Did this direct threat to the petrodollar make this “true friend of Russia”—as Putin called de Margerie—some very powerful and dangerous enemies amongst the power that be, whether in the French government, the EU, or the US?

In my book The Colder War, one chapter deals with “mysterious deaths” and how they are linked to being on the wrong side of the political equation. Whether it’s going against Putin or against the petrodollar, there are many who have fallen on both sides.

If Total doesn’t close the $27 billion financing it needs to move forward with the Yamal LNG project then we’ll know someone stepped in to prevent an attack on the petrodollar. The CEO of Total, before his death and his CFO were both strong supporters of Total raising the $27 billion in non US dollars and moving the project forward with the Russians. But, this could all change if the financing does not complete.

How many other Western executives who dare to help Russia bypass sanctions—and turn it into an energy powerhouse—will die under suspicious circumstances?

Marin Katusa, is author of The Colder War, manager of multiple global energy-exploration hedge funds, and co-founder of Copper Mountain Mining Corporation.

Vnukovo crash: Custody demanded for snowplow driver

A court in Moscow is set to consider on Thursday an appeal from investigators asking to extend a custody term for Vladimir Martynenko, an operator of a snowplow that caused a tragic crash in which Total’s CEO Christophe de Margerie, two pilots and a flight attendant, all of them French citizens, died in the crash.

Officials from the Russian Investigative Committee demanded the detention of the snowplow driver until December 21, saying that if he is not held, he could warn “other participants in the crime.”

During the takeoff at Moscow airport Vnukovo on Monday night, the four-seat Dassault Falcon business jet, en route to Paris, collided with a snowplow, caught fire and fell onto the runway.

Following the incident Martynenko was detained for the period of 48 hours, which expire on Thursday. Martynenko, who emerged unhurt from the incident, was reportedly under alcoholic influence, while he himself acknowledged that he had a cup of coffee with cognac in it before his shift.

A criminal case has been opened in Russia into the violation of traffic safety and operation of the plane. Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika personally oversees the investigation.

Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee, said earlier on Thursday that Four staff members of Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport were detained on suspicion of their duties’ negligence in regard to the Falcon-300 private jet crash.

The detained are chief engineer of the airport’s service Vladimir Ledenev, who was in charge of snow-clearing works at the time of the incident, flights director Roman Dunayev, intern air traffic controller Svetlana Krivsun and airport’s chief air traffic controller Alexander Kruglov, who was in charge of the air traffic at the time of the tragic crash.

The head and deputy-head of Vnukovo Airport have also resigned, the airport’s press service announced.

“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.

Russia loses an oil ally

Christophe de Margerie’s last act as chief executive officer of Total SA (FP) left no room for doubt about his feelings toward Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

In a Moscow speech hours before the plane crash that took his life two days ago, de Margerie said U.S. and European Union sanctions on the country were “unfair and unproductive,” and that he opposed efforts to render it “isolated from the major global economic and political process.”

Appearing before a receptive audience that included Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and a host of Russian executives, he cited his work as co-chair of a Franco-Russian business body alongside Gennady Timchenko — a commodities billionaire who was one of the first targets of U.S. sanctions.

De Margerie’s death removes from the scene a businessman who rarely shied away from geopolitical debates and became one of Russia’s most outspoken allies in its efforts to avoid economic quarantine, willing to say what others only dared think. Although European corporate giants from Siemens AG to Renault SA (RNO) have built close relationships with Russia, most business leaders have preferred to keep their lobbying private to avoid offending governments committed to punishing Putin.

“Christophe was an extraordinary individual who had nurtured his relationships with Russia and many other international players on a person-to-person basis,” said John Hofmeister, former U.S. president of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and now CEO of advocacy group Citizens for Affordable Energy. “The major players in Russia operate at multiple levels of visibility. Christophe was singular in his approach.”

Good Reason

De Margerie, 63, had good reason to oppose efforts to fray Russia’s economic ties with other major economies in the wake of the simmering civil war in the Ukraine. Under his leadership, Total bet big on the world’s largest country by landmass, partnering with OAO Novatek (NVTK) to develop an Arctic gas-export terminal and hunting with OAO Lukoil (LKOD) for so-called tight oil deposits in Siberia.

Since taking over as CEO in 2007, De Margerie repeatedly told audiences at the endless conferences he attended around the world that meeting the growth in global energy demand would be impossible without Russia’s vast reserves.

After buying a stake in Novatek, Russia in 2013 became Total’s biggest source of production after Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates and Norway, providing about 9 percent of its daily oil output.

The CEO made clear his displeasure with sanctions shortly after they were imposed earlier this year. Total made plans in April to raise its stake in Novatek just weeks after the U.S. moved to freeze the assets of Timchenko, the company’s second-largest shareholder.

Business Conclave

In May, de Margerie traveled to the annual St. Petersburg Economic Forum, an annual business conclave convened by Putin and shunned by American executives at the urging of President Barack Obama’s administration.

In a letter expressing his condolences after de Margerie’s death, Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov said the Frenchman had “remained an example of honor, steadfastly defending the principles of an honest partnership with Russia.”

De Margerie and Alekperov had signed an agreement to work together in Russia at the St. Petersburg event.

Although other major oil companies have also worked to develop partnerships in Russia, which has the world’s largest proven oil and gas reserves, none has advocated as forcefully against isolation as Total.

De Margerie “said out loud what many didn’t dare,” said Laurence Parisot, former head of France’s employers federation Medef. He was never afraid to criticize anyone, from the president of France down, she said. “One of his exceptional characteristics was that he was very direct, very clear and very frank in all settings.”

Exxon Mobil

BP Plc (BP/) CEO Bob Dudley, whose company owns 20 percent of state-backed oil producer OAO Rosneft (ROSN), in July described sanctions as “a matter for governments to resolve.” Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson has consistently declined to comment publicly on the measures, which have forced the world’s largest private oil producer to suspend Arctic exploration alongside Rosneft.

“In defending investment in Russia it’s likely de Margerie was driven by an economic rationale which will survive him,” Alex Griffiths, head of natural resources and commodities at Fitch Ratings, said by telephone from London. “A lot of western companies have major stakes in Russia because of the huge reserves there.”

The U.S. and European governments have said Putin is backing separatist rebels in the east of Ukraine, who this week skirmished with the Ukrainian army in and around Donetsk. Putin has denied supporting the militants.

Oil Search

Russia wasn’t the first controversial country that De Margerie, always on the hunt for new sources of oil and gas, sought to do business with even at the risk of political opprobrium. Total was working on developing the giant South Pars natural gas project in Iran until sanctions designed to halt its nuclear program drove the company to pull out in 2009.

This year de Margerie said he’d like to re-enter the country as soon as political conditions allow. He met with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani along with other energy CEOs in Davos, Switzerland.

Total’s press office wasn’t available to comment beyond a statement earlier today that the company’s board would meet in Paris to consider the appointment of a new CEO.

De Margerie and other Total executives “saw the world as a place they should be operating, not their own countries or their own continents,” James Hackett, the former CEO of Anadarko Petroleum (APC) Corp., said today. “He never reverted to a focus on financial engineering as opposed to finding resources.”

Yamal Development

De Margerie’s determination to keep pumping more oil and gas drove him in recent weeks to say he was “doing everything” to keep his signature Russian project on track, the $27 billion Yamal gas development. After U.S. sanctions barred the project from receiving loans in dollars, he said the company and its partners would look to Chinese banks to fill the gap.

Explaining his stance on Russia in May of this year, de Margerie told reporters he believed economic sanctions were an ineffective way to resolve conflicts between countries. Businesses, he argued, could serve as diplomatic intermediaries in political disputes, and “the relationship between politics and companies is a good way to calm things.”

Source: Bloomberg

More suspects to emerge after Total’s CEO death

New suspects are likely to emerge in the ongoing Russian investigation into the accident in Moscow’s Vnukovo airport that killed the CEO of French oil giant Total, a Russian Investigative Committee spokesman told RIANovosti on Tuesday.

“Although first suspects have already been identified in the case, it is evident that the negligent behavior of perpetrators was, naturally, overlooked by the upper management, whose actions or inaction will undoubtedly undergo a proper legal scrutiny, and we do not rule out more detentions in this case,” Vladimir Markin said.

“Moreover, investigators will take measures soon to suspend some airport officials, who may hinder the investigation, from official duty,” the spokesman added.

Russia’s Investigative Committee will legally assess the actions of the leadership of the air company over the crash of the Falcon plane with Total CEO Christophe de Margerie on board, Investigative Commitee spokesman Vladimir Markin told TASS.

The chief executive of French oil major Total was killed when a business jet collided with a snow plough during takeoff at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport, the company and airport officials said.
The collision occurred late on Monday, minutes before midnight Moscow time, the airport said in a statement. The Dassault Falcon business jet carrying de Margerie was heading to Paris, Reuters reported.

“The investigators will soon take measures to suspend from office a number of airport staff members who may impede the investigation. Despite the appearance of the first suspects in the case, it is also obvious that senior managers of the air company the action and inaction of which will be legally assessed during the investigation, are behind the negligent conduct of the persons directly responsible for the incident,” he said.

Markin did not rule out that more suspects may be detained during the criminal case investigation.

Investigators confiscated all video and audio recordings from the crash scene of the private Falcon-300 jet to establish those responsible for the tragic incident.

The driver of the snowplow that collided with the jet that crashed at a Moscow airport killing all four people on board, has been detained for 48 hours. The driver was drunk at the time of the accident when the snowplow he was operating crashed into the four-seat Falcon-300 airplane, which caught fire and fell onto the runway. Three crewmembers and France’s oil giant Total CEO Christophe de Margerie died in the jet’s crash.

The French Air Accident Bureau (BEA) has sent its experts to Moscow who will join the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) investigating the circumstances of the death of Total CEO Christophe de Margerie.
A team of three investigators is due to arrive in Russia soon, the Agence France-Presse reported on Tuesday.

The Paris Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case into “involuntary manslaughter” following the tragic death of the Total CEO.

Total CEO dies in crash at Moscow airport

French oil giant Total’s prices on the Euronext stock exchange dropped 2 percent after the death of the company’s CEO in a plane crash in Moscow, the market reported Tuesday.

On the Euronext Exchange, Total’s stocks dropped by 2 percent on the Paris market after news from Moscow verified that CEO Christophe de Margerie had died in a crash with a snowplow on the runway of Vnukovo Airport late Monday night, killing all four individuals on board the aircraft.

Russian investigators have confirmed that the driver of the snowplow was drunk.

The Falcon 50 jet crashed late Monday night in the Vnukovo-3 Airport in Moscow after the aircraft hit a snow removal vehicle on takeoff. The aircraft was flying from Moscow to Paris with energy giant Total’s head Christophe de Margerie as the only passenger on board besides three crew members, also French citizens.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a telegram to his French counterpart Francois Hollande expressing condolences over the death of Total’s CEO and crew members

“I am shocked by the report of an air crash at the Moscow Vnukovo airport, which has led to the death of the chairman of the board of directors and the president of the Total oil concern, Christophe de Margerie, and the crew members,” Putin said in the telegram.
“I ask you to convey the most sincere condolences and regrets to the relatives and friends of Christophe 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,” the telegram reads.
The president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Putin knew Margerie and maintained close working contacts with him. The president highly valued Margerie’s business qualities and his consistent commitment to the development of Russian-French relations and mutually beneficial cooperation on the whole, Peskov said.

Russia’s former finance minister Alexey Kudrin said on his page in Twitter Christophe de Margerie did a great deal in order to promote investments in the Russian economy. Kudrin also offered condolences over Margerie’s death in the crash.

“It is a grave tragedy,” he said.

De Margerie, who joined the French oil giant in 1974, has been credited with significantly expanding the company’s operations in Russia, which accounted for about nine percent of Total’s oil and gas output in 2013.

The late Total CEO was an outspoken critic of Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

In July, he told Reuters news agency that Europe should stop thinking about cutting its dependence on Russian gas and focus instead on making those deliveries safer.

Total said last month that sanctions would not halt its involvement in the so-called Yamal project, a $27 billion joint venture investment to tap vast natural gas reserves in northwest Siberia.

Total CEO sees no reason to pay for oil in dollar

Christophe de Margerie, Total’s chief executive said on Saturday the euro should have a bigger role in international trade.

The oil major’s CEO was responding to questions about calls by French policymakers to find ways at EU level to bolster the use of the euro in international business following a record U.S. fine for BNP.

“There is no reason to pay for oil in dollars,” he said. He said the fact that oil prices are quoted in dollars per barrel did not mean that payments actually had to be made in that currency.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday that euro zone finance ministers would discuss ways of boosting use of the euro in international trade in their next monthly meeting on Monday.

“It would be a way to protect businesses when, outside of U.S. territory, they carry out transactions that are perfectly legal in the country they belong to,” he said.

Source: Reuters