]]
(, ) is an oil company headquartered in
Paris ,
France , and one of the six "
Supermajor " oil companies in the world. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from
Crude Oil and
Natural Gas exploration and production to
Power Generation ,
Transportation ,
Refining ,
Petroleum product marketing, and international crude oil and product trading. Total is also a large-scale
Chemicals manufacturer.
Rejecting the idea of partnering with
Royal Dutch Shell , French Prime Minister
Raymond Poincaré insisted after
World War I that France create an entirely French oil company. At Poincaré's behest, Col.
Ernest Mercier , a graduate of the
École Polytechnique expert in the electric industry, enlisted the support of ninety banks and companies to found Total on
March 28 ,
1924 , as the '' (CFP), literally the "French Company of Petroleums". Petroleum was seen as vital in the case of a new war with Germany. However, the company was from the start a
Private Sector company (it was listed on the
Paris Stock Exchange for the first time in
1929 ). CFP took up the 23.75% share of the
Deutsche Bank in the Turkish Petroleum Company (renamed the
Iraq Petroleum Company ), awarded to France as compensation for war damages caused by Germany during
World War I by the
San Remo Conference .
In
1985 the company was renamed . In 1991 the company name became simply '''Total'''. After Total's
Takeover of
Belgian Petrofina in
1999 , it became known as '''Total Fina'''. Afterwards it also acquired the French
Elf Aquitaine . First named '''TotalFinaElf''' after the merger in
2000 , it was later renamed back to '''Total''' in
2003 .
Total operates in more than 130 countries and has over 111,000 employees. As recently as
1992 , the French government still held 5% of the firm's shares, down from a peak of over thirty percent. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/pgem/ch2b.html In the time period between 1990 and 1994, foreign ownership of the firm increased from 23% to 44%.
]]
- ---Oil & gas production/exploration
- ---Gas & power
- ---Refining & marketing
- ---Trading & shipping
- ---Arkema
- ---Total Petrochemicals
- ---Fertilizers
- ---Resins, adhesives and electroplating
--Cray Valley
--Sartomer
--Cook Composites & Polymers
--Atotech
-- Bostik
- ---Elastomer Processing
The
AZF chemical plant which exploded in 2001 in
Toulouse , France, belonged to the ''Grande Paroisse'' branch of Total.
In the 1990s Total and Elf Aquitane (before the merger) won contracts with ,
2004-10-10 .
Although Total claims to maintain a "socially responsible investment" program, there has been recent controversy over its corporate involvement in
Burma , despite recent
European Union Sanctions on new
Investment in the country due to its poor
Human Rights record.
Democratic Activists have accused Total of propping up that country's brutal
Military Junta .
These groups, which include ., and the Burmese Democratic Movement Association, point out that Total is currently involved in a
Joint Venture with the military regime developing an
Offshore Gas Field in the
Andaman Sea . The gas is exported to
Thailand through a
Pipeline that travels 65 kilometres through Burma. Total is one of the biggest
Foreign Investors in Burma. The Burmese government in exile also criticises Total for allegedly funding rape, murder and genocide in Burma, as a result of hiring members of the military to guard their pipeline.
Total has been taken to court by six Burmese people who claimed they were used as
Forced Labour in the preparation of Total's pipeline in Burma. Total paid the villages to drop the case in 2005. In 2005 a 14 year old girl was allegedly gang raped by sixteen members of the Burmese army employed by Total to guard their pipeline. Many activists feel Total has not taken adequate steps to bring those responsible to account.
At a recent meeting of the company's small
Shareholders in
France , activist groups called for Total to cease its operations inside
Burma , but the company has refused to budge on the issue, despite urging from activists and independent
Financial Advisors .
The regime benefits from Total's investment and thus, Total's involvement in Burma is branded by democratic activists as a major factor propping up the regime and perpetuating its brutal and
Illegitimate rule.
The construction of the
Yadana Pipeline has led to environmental devastation, while revenues from Total's investment in Burma fuel purchases by Burma's dictator,
Than Shwe , to increase weapons supplies.
Burma's democracy movement, led by 1991
Nobel Peace Prize recipient
Aung San Suu Kyi , has called on companies to leave Burma until the ruling dictator agrees to participate in a transition to democracy.
Suu Kyi , the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has strongly criticized Total's deal with Burma's military regime, stating: "Total has become the main supporter of the Burmese military regime."
On February 3rd 2006 an International Day of Action Against Total was held. Protests in at least 15 countries worldwide, including the Netherlands, France, UK, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Romania, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia, Thailand and the USA, and a formal request was made by the independent Burmese trade union FTUB to TOTAL Oil to pull out of Burma. The Burmese government in exile (democratically elected by the majority of people in Burma) supported the day.
Coming Soon
''See also:''
US Campaign for Burma ,
Burma Campaign UK ,
Boycott Total Oil (Students Against Total) ,
Official Total Response
After taking over
Elf Aquitaine , Total inherited a broad range of controversial and ongoing issues, including about 2550
Minol sites (projection from 400 in Thuringia) all over the former East Germany, the transfer of which had been the subject of tens of millions of dollars worth of
Bribes . The property transfer had also involved the
Leuna refinery. In Germany the
Leuna Scandal was also called the "Chancellor Scandal" because it apparently implicated the former Chancellor
Helmut Kohl . See:
Leuna Scandal
The headquarters of TotalFinaElf were free-climbed in February 2003 by
"Spiderman" Alain Robert , in protest of the American-led
Invasion Of Iraq ; he scaled it again on October 19, 2004 while wearing a
Spider-Man costume.
International Metric Specialists became the first and only distributors of Total oil in California in 2007
