Big Mustache Total

The largest energy company in France is headed by Christophe de Margerie

There has been a change of power at the French oil and gas company Total. As of yesterday, its president is Christophe de Margerie, he was vice president for exploration and production, and was also the curator of Russian projects for Total. The company's board of directors chose Mr. Margerie despite the fact that he spent several hours in custody at the end of last year - the justice accused him of "abuses in public procurement" and "complicity in the corruption of foreign government officials." The point is that in the late 1990s, Total allegedly gave bribes to foreign companies (under the guise of commissions) to obtain lucrative contracts for the purchase of Iraqi oil, bypassing the UN Oil-for-Food program. Thierry Desmarais, who has led the company since 1995, said: “Christophe de Margerie has been with Total for more than 30 years. Together we have built a world-class company, empowered by a rich culture and strong ambition. I know that Christophe will continue to develop Total with the best interests of our employees and shareholders in mind.” Mr. de Margerie, nicknamed Big Mustache, is well known on the global oil scene as an experienced diplomat. Joking about the contrast in style compared to his predecessor, he told reporters: "A great mustache doesn't make you smarter or more outgoing." The new head of the company has been leading projects in the Middle East for a long time, and that is why he became one of the defendants in the investigation into the execution of the Oil-for-Food program, which is being conducted by French police judge Philippe Currois. Total was suspected of paying commissions, through the Swiss company Telliac of entrepreneur Jean Caillet, that were actually bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime. One former employee of the oil company claimed that in the late 1990s Total needed Iraqi oil because its refineries were underutilized, and therefore allegedly created a system of corruption by rewarding numerous middlemen. However, Mr. de Margerie’s guilt has not yet been proven, and his lawyers assure that “we are talking about baseless documents.” He himself said yesterday that he was not at all concerned about the outcome of the proceedings. Mr. de Margerie visited Moscow several times, and it was he who negotiated Total's entry into the Shtokman field development project in 2004, when Gazprom planned to attract foreign investors to it. Last year, he called not to link the problems at the Kharyaginskoye oil field in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, where Total is the project operator and owns a 50 percent share (the company was unable to provide previously announced production volumes, which resulted in numerous checks and threats), with the chances become a partner of Gazprom at Shtokman. “Many aspects prevent Total from entering the Shtokman project,” he told reporters. “But there are many chances that will allow us to do this.” And the possible problems at Kharyaga, which the Ministry of Natural Resources is talking about, should not in any way influence the decision on a partnership to develop the Shtokman field. I assure you that this issue was not raised at the Gazprom level; the concern never told us that we had problems at the Kharyaga field and that this was bad. I think Gazprom knows what it is doing in the field of gas production.” Yesterday, the new head of Total said that the company still hopes to participate in large long-term Russian energy projects, such as Shtokman, “on acceptable terms.” At the same time, criticism of the Kharyaga field, as Mr. de Margerie said earlier, is a political aspect. PSA projects fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, and not the Ministry of Natural Resources, which is making claims: “And when the minister (apparently, he means the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Yuri Trutnev. - Ed.) says: let’s develop this reservoir, increase oil production, - he does not understand that this is a layer, and his political statements cannot force him to be different (less complex - Ed.)... We, of course, respect the interests of Russia, but there should be no hasty decisions and statements." Total, according to Mr. de Margerie, is implementing the complex Kharyaga field in Russia, while Russian companies have so far preferred to work with easily produced oil. “If Shell (which was the main shareholder of the Sakhalin-2 project - Ed.) is having difficulties on Sakhalin, this does not mean that the company is incompetent,” he argued in June. Mr. de Margerie has pointed out in the past year, that Russia should not take the path of “energy nationalism” - by this he meant increasing the state’s share in projects implemented under PSA terms to a controlling share. He justified this by the fact that Russia really needs an exchange of experience with foreign colleagues: “People. who believe in their infallibility lose their qualifications." The CIS countries, in his opinion, "should provide the opportunity for foreign companies to work in joint ventures." The Sakhalin project, following the terminology of the head of Total, is already nationalistic. Considering that there are three PSA projects in Russia and the state-owned Rosneft is present in Sakhalin-1, the next one in this process should be Kharyaginsky. While the process of its “nationalization” is not going well, however, in the Nenets Oil Company, which owns a 10 percent stake in it. There is already management close to the state-owned Zarubezhneft, and the Nenets authorities claim that they would not be against increasing the NOC’s share in the Kharyaga project. Total is also having problems in its native France. The country's presidential candidate from the Socialist Party, Ségolène Royal, calls for a tax on excess profits received from the production and sale of oil. "There is a need for negotiations with Total, which invests a (very small - Ed.) part of its profits in renewable energy, which is the energy source of the future," Bruno Rebel, Ms. Royal's environmental adviser, told Reuters. According to expert estimates, for the company we are talking about an additional tax of 1 billion euros per year. In addition, last Monday the trial began in connection with the 1999 disaster of the tanker Erica, which sank near the British Isles. Total was among 15 organizations that were charged in this case. Yesterday, the company once again stated that, being the customer of the charter, it does not bear any responsibility for its safety.

Nikolay GORELOV, Denis UVAROV