Christophe de Margerie, CEO of major French oil company Total, was killed Monday night when his corporate jet crashed into a snow removal vehicle on the runway of an airport near Moscow. The company reportedly has no succession plant in place, but has strong corporate governance led by a long-standing board of directors. “Barclays France… Keep reading →
You can’t un-ring that bell, but Total CEO Christophe de Margerie laments the fact “hydraulic fracturing” became the widely accepted terminology for the controversial well completion technology. De Margerie’s dissatisfaction with the term appears to stem from a belief that it sounds overly complex and scares the general public. The French oil major’s chief made… Keep reading →
Continental Resources’ Chariman and Chief Executive Harold Hamm will not lose his controlling interest in the company as a result of divorce proceedings, according to an Oklahoma District Court judge. Continental is one of the largest oil producers operating in the Bakken Shale and Hamm’s roughly 124 million shares in the company are estimated to… Keep reading →
Two of the oil industry’s more colorful chief executives – Total’s Christophe de Margerie and Eni’s Paolo Scaroni – provided some choice remarks on a range of energy-related topics yesterday at a Council on Foreign Relations event, The Future of Energy. They were joined by Michael Levi, director of the Council’s program on energy security… Keep reading →
The fatal Quebec oil train disaster looks likely to touch off yet another debate affecting the future of the Keystone XL pipeline – whether pipelines or rail are a safer way to transport oil. “People think rail is costless until something like this happens.” [Bloomberg] France’s Total and its Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie were… Keep reading →
Electric car manufacturer Tesla has announced plans to dramatically expand its electric vehicle charging network – the company claims that within six months, it will connect most major metropolitan areas in the US and southern Canada. [Forbes] In somewhat related but perhaps slightly less dramatic news, the US Navy has unveiled its first solar-powered EV… Keep reading →
One of the most frightening scenes from the financial crisis unfolded in the staid environs of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Washington offices, where the regulators charged with monitoring derivatives trade gathered together the heads of commodity trading from recently shamed Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The CFTC was a comparatively… Keep reading →
