Christophe de Margerie: Big Oil's Straight Talker

It is past midnight in a jet high above the Persian Gulf, and one of the key figures in global energy shows no sign of retiring. Instead, Christophe de Margerie, CEO of the French oil giant Total, zeroes in on a favorite target: criticisms of oil companies by environmental groups, gathered in Copenhagen for the U.N. Climate Summit. “People say they are inventing electric cars,” de Margerie says, puffing on a Marlboro. “Well, where is the electricity coming from? Flowers? Maybe someday. But what is available now is oil and gas.”

The argument is delivered in de Margerie’s trademark style: blunt and impassioned, with an almost cocky certitude. He credits his confidence to years spent traveling