Total S.A.
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Total SA Template:NYSE is a French oil company, and one of the top four oil companies in the world (along with Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil). Total merged with the Belgian Petrofina, and after Total's takeover of 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. The company is headquartered in Paris, France. It is part of the CAC 40 stock market index.
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Chemical branch
The chemical part of Total S.A. is Atofina S.A. covering base chemicals, polymers as well as specialties like rubber products, resins or adhesives. The AZF chemical plant which exploded in 2001 in Toulouse, France, belonged to the Grande Paroisse branch of Total.
Controversies
Oil for Food
Total won contracts with Saddam Hussein's regime to develop the Majnoon and Nahr Umar oil fields in southern Iraq, consisting of 25% of Iraq's oil reserves.
Burma
Total's presence in Burma is responsible for several severe human rights violations, including forced labor, displacement, torture, rape and extra-judicial killings associated with a natural gas pipeline in which it maintains the majority ownership. 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."
see also: US Campaign for Burma (http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/), Burma Campaign UK (http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/), Official Total Response (http://burma.total.com/)
Miscellaneous
The headquarters of TotalFinaElf were free-climbed in February 2003 by "Spiderman" Alain Robert, in protest of the American-led invasion of Iraq.
External links
- Total (http://www.total.com)
- Burma Campaign (http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/)