As the scion of the Taittinger champagne dynasty, Christophe de Margerie could easily have spent his career sipping bubbly in the comfortable chateaus of Reims. But instead he joined Total straight from college and soon found himself searching for oil in the baking heat of the Middle East.

Easily recognisable with his grey handlebar moustache - his nickname at Total is “Big Moustache” – Mr de Margerie was the obvious choice to succeed Thierry Desmarest as chief executive when the latter steps up to chairman after the group’s annual results in February.