Total SA

Open full sized image

Total gas station, Putlitz, Ger.

Schreibschaf

Total SA, French oil company that ranks as one of the world’s major petroleum corporations. It engages in the exploration, refining, transport, and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products. The firm also pursues business interests in coal mining, nuclear energy, and alternative energy sources such as solar power and biomass. Headquarters are in Courbevoie, France.

Total originated in Paris in 1924 as Compagnie Française des Pétroles (“French Petroleum Company”) on the initiative of the French government. Known as CFP, the company engaged in exploration and production primarily from the Middle East. Its first refinery began operating in Normandy in 1933. After World War II, CFP engaged in oil exploration in Venezuela, Canada, and Africa while pursuing energy sources within France. Exploration in Algeria, then a French colony, began in 1946, with Algeria becoming a leading source of oil in the 1950s. CFP introduced the Total brand of gasoline on the African continent in 1954, bringing it to Europe that same year. Building on the popularity of its gasoline brand, the company renamed itself Total CFP in 1985. The name changed to Total in 1991 when it became a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Having controlled more than 30 percent of the company’s stock through 1991, the French government over the next five years reduced its stake in the firm to less than 1 percent.

As one of the world’s major oil companies, Total SA conducts business in more than 130 countries. The company explores for and produces oil and gas in more than 30 countries or regions. It acquired Petrofina of Belgium in 1999 and the French oil firm Elf Aquitaine in 2000. Total’s motor fuel brands, which include Total, Fina, and Elf, are sold through almost 15,000 retail sites worldwide.