Christophe de Margerie, chairman and CEO of French oil and petrochemicals giant Total, has been killed in a Russian aviation accident.

Reports from Moscow said de Margerie, 63, was returning to Paris in the late evening of Oct. 20 after a meeting with Russian prime minister Dmitri Medvedev about future investment in the company. On takeoff from Moscow's Vnukovo airport his private jet struck a snow plough, killing the three-member crew along with the Total chief.

Initial reports quoted Russian authorities as saying the driver of the snow clearing vehicle was inebriated. A lawyer for the driver, however, said this was not the case. His client had "an acute heart condition."

The French group called an extraordinary meeting of its supervisory board on Oct. 21 to find a successor to its chief executive. Names mentioned include Philippe Boisseau, head of new energy division, and Patrick Pouyanne, president of the refining and chemicals division.

De Margerie was known as a firm supporter of maintaining good relations with Russia, in the interest of securing European gas supplies. Consequently, he was an outspoken opponent of sanctions imposed in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. In September of this year, the group's plans for a joint venture with Russian oil company, Lukoil, to explore for shale oil in western Siberia, ran afoul of Western sanctions.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted remarks by de Margerie in what it said was the Total CEO's last public address: "Russia has many friends and partners in the West. We don't consider that Russia can be isolated from the major global economic and political process."

Following the accident that killed the French executive, Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted by the news agency Tass as saying he "highly appreciated de Margerie's business skills, his continued commitment to the development of not only bilateral Russian-French relations, but also on multi-faceted levels."

Total is one of the largest foreign investors in Russia, having announced plans to double its output in the country by 2020.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France has lost "a great industry captain," who turned Total into a world giant. De Margerie had worked for the oil group since his graduation from France's Ecole Superieure de Commerce in 1974.

France's second-largest listed company is in the midst of a strategy realignment, announced in 2013. This has the aim of focusing investment on its large, integrated platforms, while cutting back or divesting smaller units.