Russia Loses Oil Ally in De Margerie After Moscow Crash

[Purveyor]

By Matthew Campbell and Tara Patel Oct 21, 2014 1:53 PM ET

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 yesterday, 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.”

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-21/russia-loses-oil-ally-in-de-margerie-after-moscow-crash.html

[jakeXT]

1. Reminds me a bit of Mattei

On October 27, 1962 on a flight from Catania (Sicily) to the Milan Linate Airport, Mattei's jetplane, a Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris, crashed in the surroundings of the small village of Bascapè in Lombardy. The cause of the accident has been a mystery. There are strong indications that the crash was caused by a bomb hidden in the airplane.[1][9] All three men on board were killed: Mattei, his pilot Irnerio Bertuzzi, and the American Time–Life Journalist William McHale. The inquiries officially declared that it was an accident. The Italian Minister of Defense, Giulio Andreotti, was responsible for the accident investigation.

During his controversial tenure of ENI, Mattei had made many enemies. The US National Security Council described him as an irritation and an obstacle in a classified report from 1958.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Mattei

[Blue_Tires]

2. Except there is no mystery behind the cause of this crash...

[jakeXT]

3. I bet the blame game will go on

Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal investigation into the crash.

It said the driver had been found to be drunk, but that investigators were also examining the actions of the air traffic controllers and the flight crew. The driver's lawyer said the driver had been following instructions from air traffic control, and that his relatives had said he never drank alcohol.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/21/us-russia-total-ceo-idUSKCN0I92HF20141021

[Blue_Tires]

4. It's not like this hasn't happened before

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_3352
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark_Air_Lines_Flight_650

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. I found that most interesting.

Whadda want to bet that the driver will recant his story at some point?
Little pressure and all that.