Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of French oil company Total, has died in an air crash in Moscow.
His corporate jet collided with a snow plough and then was engulfed in flames. All four people on board were killed.
The driver of the snow plough was drunk, according to Russian investigators.
Mr de Margerie, 63, had been chief executive of Europe's third largest oil company since 2007. He was highly regarded within the oil industry.
'Huge loss'
"France is losing an extraordinary business leader who turned Total into a world giant," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement.
"France is losing a great industry captain and a patriot."
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences.
News agency Tass quoted a Kremlin spokesman as saying: "The President highly appreciated de Mergerie's business skills, his continued commitment to the development of not only bilateral Russian-French relations, but also on multi-faceted levels."
Mr de Margerie joined Total Group after graduating from the Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Paris in 1974.
At the company, where he had spent his entire career, he was nicknamed "Big Moustache".
John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil, told the BBC: "It's a huge loss to the industry and its future focus.
"What he has done for Total in repositioning the company to return to integrity and sound operations is deeply respected and highly regarded."
According to Russia's Vedomosti newspaper, Mr de Margerie had met Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his country residence outside Moscow to discuss foreign investment in Russia.
Russian investments
Total is an important player in the Russian energy market and Mr de Margerie was a staunch defender of maintaining ties, despite Western sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.
Total is one of the biggest foreign investors in Russia and is planning to double its output from the country by 2020.
It is working on the Yamal project, a $27bn joint venture to extract natural gas in northwest Siberia.
During his time at the helm of Total Mr de Margerie successfully defended the company against allegations of corruption around the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
He maintained the company's investments in Burma and Iran despite US sanctions against those countries.
Mr de Margerie was flying from Moscow's Vnukovo airport, southwest of Moscow
Mr de Margerie's jet had been due to fly to Paris from Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport.
Vnukovo, is located to the southwest of Moscow and is used by President Vladimir Putin and other government officials.
Russia's emergencies ministry said in a statement the accident had involved a Falcon-50 plane shortly before midnight local time (20:00 GMT) on Monday.
"At the moment, it is already established that the driver of the snow plough was in a condition of alcoholic intoxication," said Russia's Investigative Committee, a federal agency which answers to President Vladimir Putin.
Reports say the visibility at airport was 350m (1,150ft).
An investigation is now under way.
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