Untimely succession

Total's Margerie may need two successors

Christophe de Margerie was a charismatic and flamboyant leader who will be hard to replace - as they tend to be. Yet financial markets' measured response to his death in a Moscow plane crash seems to indicate that Total, the French oil group he both ran and chaired, can cope with the tragedy.

The board will have to find a successor in a hurry. It had recently raised de Margerie's retirement age from 65 to 67, often a sign that succession planning is not finalised. A good idea now would be to split the jobs of chairman and chief executive - giving Total a figurehead with some international presence, while leaving an insider run the day-to-day operations.

De Margerie liked to say that he chose Total 40 years ago, straight out of business school, because it was the company closer to his home in Paris' posh 16th arrondissement. But the career he then embarked on in the group's exploration and production division was anything but local. He became the unit's head in 1999, and Total's CEO in 2007, adding the chairman title in 2010.

From his years in the West Asia he kept a mantra that became an obsession: go get the oil where it is. That meant big investments with high risks and hopefully high rewards, tireless travels around the globe and the endless courting of risky regimes often ruling resources-rich countries. The apex of the strategy were the years 2010 to 2012, when oil prices holding steady in the $100-120 range seemed to justify the permanent search for the next colossal field.

Then came the big review. Net profit fell nearly 20 per cent in 2013, and the disappointing results of the big exploration push, shifted the emphasis to cost-cutting and asset disposals. Total still remained eager to seek new fields - and de Margerie's outspoken hostility to sanctions against Russia was consistent with his eagerness to tap Siberian oil and gas riches.

To fill the CEO job, the board doesn't lack possible candidates who know the company well. The average company seniority of Total's six-member executive committee is 28 years. Meanwhile, appointing a chairman with some international stature would reconcile the company's current needs with the canons of corporate governance. Two successors may be needed to take de Margerie's place.