By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Christophe de Margerie, chairman/chief executive officer of French oil firm Total SA has died at 63 when his airplane struck a snowplow on a Moscow runway, total said in a statement Tuesday morning.

The 63-year-old CEO of Total also known as “Mr. Moustache” died at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport alongside three (3) crew members, and a Russian investigative committee in its official website said the driver of the snowplow was drunk.

De Margerie who had a 40-year career in Total began at the French oil giant finance unit where he oversaw far-flung operations for the company in Indonesia to Middle East to Kazakhstan. The late de Margerie in the last 15 years oversaw Total SA’s biggest expansion of oil reserves.

It was also reported that earlier this year de Margerie helped negotiate Total SA’s entry into Russian shale under a Siberian drilling venture with OAO Lukoil; the company also is a partner in the vast Russian gas development on the Yamal Peninsula.

‘’The thoughts of the management and employees of the Group go out to Christophe de Margerie’s wife, children and loved ones as well as to the families of the three other victims,’’ the statement said.

De Margerie joined Total after graduating from the Ecole Superieure de Commerce in 1974, according to the company’s website.