Total chief executive, 63, dies in Moscow plane crash: report

Christophe de Margerie, chief executive at Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, died in a Moscow plane crash, Interfax reported. The 63-year-old CEO died at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport when a business jet crashed, Interfax said citing an unidentified law enforcement official. All four on the plane died, Interfax said, and were French citizens. Mr. De Margerie, right, started his ca- reer in Total’s finance department in 1974 and took over as CE O at the French company in February 2007, when that post was split from the chairman’s. Before becoming chief executive, Mr. de Margerie, known by the nickname “Big Moustache,” because of his curved mous- tache, oversaw exploration and production and headed up Total’s business in some of the world’s political hot spots including Iraq, Iran and Myanmar. Bloomberg News