.svg){kind=link}
The story
Founded by Ernest Mercier on Mar 28, 1924.1
1924–1985: Compagnie Française des Pétroles
The company was founded after World War I, when petrol was seen as vital in case of a new war with Germany. The then–French President Raymond Poincaré rejected the idea of forming a partnership with Royal Dutch Shell in favour of creating an entirely French oil company. At Poincaré's behest in 1924 Col. Ernest Mercier, with the support of 90 banks and companies, founded the Compagnie Française des Pétroles (CFP) (in English, the French Petroleum Company).
As per the agreement reached during the San Remo conference of 1920, the French state received the 25% share held by Deutsche Bank in the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) as part of the compensation for war damages caused by Germany during World War I. The French government's stake in TPC was transferred to CFP, and the Red Line agreement in 1928 rearranged the shareholding of CFP in TPC (later renamed the Iraq Petroleum Company in 1929) to 23.75%. The company from the start was regarded as a private sector company in view of its listing on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1929.
During the 1930s, the company was 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.
In 1954 CFP branded its downstream products as Total in Africa and Europe.
Total entered the United States in 1971 by acquiring Leonard Petroleum of Alma, Michigan and several Standard Oil of Indiana stations in Metro Detroit.
In 1980, Total Petroleum (North America) Ltd., a company controlled 50% by CFP, bought the American refining and marketing assets of Vickers Petroleum as part of a sell-off by Esmark of its energy holdings. This purchase gave Total refining capacity, transportation, and a network of 350 service stations in 20 states.
1985–2003: Total CFP and rebranding to Total
The company renamed itself Total CFP in 1985, to build on the popularity of its gasoline brand. Later in 1991, the name was changed to Total, when it became a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1991, the French government held more than 30 percent of the company's stock but by 1996 had reduced its stake to less than 1 percent. In the period between 1990 and 1994, foreign ownership of the firm increased from 23 percent to 44 percent.
Total continued to expand its retail presence in North America under several brand names. In 1989, Denver, Colorado–based Total Petroleum, Total CFP's North American unit, purchased 125 Road Runner retail locations from Texarkana, Texas–based Truman Arnold Companies. By 1993, Total Petroleum was operating 2,600 retail stores under the Vickers, Apco, Road Runner, and Total brands. That year, the company began remodeling and rebranding all of its North American gasoline and convenience stores to use the Total name. Four years later, Total sold its North American refining and retail operations to Ultramar Diamond Shamrock for $400 million in stock and $414 million in assumed debt.
Read the full text
In 1996, the Girassol oil field was discovered and operated by TotalEnergies SE. After Total's takeover of Petrofina of Belgium in 1999, it became known as Total Fina. Afterwards, it also acquired Elf Aquitaine. First named TotalFinaElf after the merger in 2000, its name reverted to Total in 2003. During that rebranding, the globe logo was unveiled.
Total's leadership had been aware of the deleterious effects of global warming since at least 1971; The company nevertheless openly denied the findings of climate science until the 1990s; Total also pursued a number of strategies to cover up the threat and contribution to climate change.
2003–2021
In 2003, Total signed for a 30% stake in the gas exploration venture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) – South Rub' al-Khali joint venture along with Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco. The stake was later bought out by its partners.
In 2006, Saudi Aramco and Total signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical project in Saudi Arabia which targeted 400,000 barrels per day (bpd). Two years later, the two companies officially established a joint venture called Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP) in which a 62.5% stake was held by Saudi Aramco and the balance 37.5% held by Total.
Total withdrew in 2006 from all Iranian development work because of United Nations concerns that resulted in sanctions over possible weaponization of the nuclear program of Iran.
During the 2009–2010 Iraqi oil services contracts tender, a consortium led by CNPC (37.5%), which also included TOTAL (18.75%) and Petronas (18.75%) was awarded a production contract for the "Halfaya field" in the south of Iraq, which contains an estimated 4.1 billion barrels (650,000,000 m3) of oil.
In 2010 Total and Erg merged their respective subsidiaries Total Italia and Erg Petroli, forming TotalErg, 49% controlled by the French group and 51% by the Italian one. As of 2010, Total had over 96,000 employees and operated in more than 130 countries. In 2010, Total announced plans to pull out of the forecourt market in the United Kingdom.
In 2012, Total announced it was selling its 20% stake and operating mandate in its Nigerian offshore project to a unit of China Petrochemical Corp for $2.5 billion.
In 2013, Total started the operation at Kashagan with North Caspian Operating Company. It is the biggest discovery of oil reserves since 1968. In 2013, Total increased its stake in Novatek to 16.96%. In 2013, Total and its joint venture partner agreed to buy Chevron Corporation's retail distribution business in Pakistan for an undisclosed amount.
In January 2014, Total became the first major oil and gas firm to acquire exploration rights for shale gas in the UK after it bought a 40 percent interest in two licences in the Gainsborough Trough area of northern England for $48 million. In July 2014, the company disclosed it was in talks to sell its LPG distribution business in France to Pennsylvania-based UGI Corporation for €450 million ($615 million).
On 20 October 2014, at 23:57 MST, a Dassault Falcon 50 business jet heading to Paris caught fire and exploded during takeoff after colliding with a snow removal vehicle in Vnukovo International Airport, killing four, including three crew members and CEO of Total S.A. Christophe de Margerie on board. Alcohol presence was confirmed in the blood of the driver of the vehicle on the ground. Patrick Pouyanne, who was Total's Refining Chief at that time, was appointed as CEO, and also as chairman of Total in 2015.
In 2015, Total unveiled plans to cut 180 jobs in the United Kingdom, reduce refinery capacity and slow spending on North Sea fields after it fell to a $5.7bn final-quarter loss. The company said it would also sell off $5bn worth of assets worldwide and cut exploration costs by 30%. In 2016, Total signed a $224M deal to buy Lampiris, the third-largest Belgian supplier of gas and renewable energy to expand its gas and power distribution activities. In 2016, Total bought French battery maker Saft Groupe S.A. in a $1.1bn deal, to boost its development in renewable energy and electricity businesses. In 2016, Total agreed to acquire $2.2-billion in upstream and downstream assets from Petrobras as part of the firms' strategic alliance announced earlier that year. For Total, these new partnerships with Petrobras reinforce Total's position in Brazil through access to new fields in the Santos Basin while entering the gas value chain. Between 2013 and 2017, Total organized the ARGOS Challenge, a robotic competition with the aim to develop robots for its oil and gas production sites. It was won by an Austrian-German team using a variant of the taurob tracker robot.
In 2017, Total signed a deal for a total amount of $4.8b with Iran for the development and production of South Pars, the world's largest gas field. The deal was the first foreign investment in Iran since in the 2015 sanctions over Iran's nuclear weaponisation were lifted by the JCPOA. In 2017, Total announced the acquisition of Maersk Oil for $7.45 billion in a share and debt transaction. This deal positioned Total as the second operator in the North Sea. In 2017, Total signed an agreement with EREN Renewable energy to acquire an interest of 23% in EREN RE for an amount of €237.5 million. In November 2017, Total announced the launch on the French residential market of Total Spring, a natural gas and green power offering that is 10% cheaper than regulated tariffs. Total is thus pursuing its strategy of downstream integration in the gas and power value chain in Europe.
On 10 January 2018 TotalErg was acquired by Gruppo API, with the exception of the Special Fluids division, acquired by the newly formed Total Italia. In 2018, Total officially withdrew from the Iranian South Pars gas field because of sanctions pressure from the US.
In 2019, Total announced the sale of a 30% stake in the Trapil pipeline network to crude oil storage operator Pisto SAS for €260 million. Later that year, Total signed deals to transfer 30% and 28.33% of its assets in Namibia's Block 2913B and Block 2912 respectively to QatarEnergy. The company will also transfer 40% of its existing 25% interests in the Orinduik and Kanuku blocks of Guyana and 25% interest in Blocks L11A, L11B, and L12 of Kenya to QatarEnergy.
In July 2020 the company changed its name from Total SA to Total SE as part of registration as a European company. In 2020, the company announced its intention to cut 500 voluntary jobs in France.
In 2021, Total left the American Petroleum Institute lobby, due to differences in the common vision of how to tackle the fight against climate change. In 2021, Total said that it had registered an income of $3 billion for the period of January–March, which is close to the levels registered before the pandemic.
2021–present: Rebranding to TotalEnergies
In 2021, the company announced a name change to TotalEnergies as an intended illustration of its investments in the production of green electricity. At the Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting in May of that year, shareholders approved the name change to TotalEnergies.
In 2022, TotalEnergies announced it would end all operations in Myanmar, citing rampant human rights abuses and deteriorating rule of law since the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état and has also called for international sanctions targeting the oil and gas sector in the country, which is one of the main sources of revenue for Myanmar's government. As of 11 March 2022, Total was one of the only Western oil companies to continue operating in Russia after the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In June 2022, TotalEnergies signed a partnership with QatarEnergy for the world's largest LNG expansion project, the North Field East (NFE). Holding the largest stake, 6.25%, TotalEnergies will hold the equivalent of one of the four trains. In September 2022, an additional agreement was signed to include the North Field South (NFS) which is the second phase of the NFE. This gave TotalEnergies a stake of 9.375% of the 25% stakes available to international companies.
On 30 March 2023, Total sold a shipment of LNG which it sourced from UAE to CNOOC on the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange. It was reportedly the first trade to be settled in the renminbi (Chinese yuan) currency on the SHPGX. In July 2023, Iraq signed a $27 billion energy agreement with TotalEnergies to develop the country's energy sector and boost output of oil, gas and renewables. Additionally, Indian Oil Corp, has signed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import deals with ADNOC LNG and TotalEnergies in the same month. In October 2023, TotalEnergies sold its Canadian operations to Suncor Energy for C$1.47 billion($1.07 billion). TotalEnergies has agreed to buy liquefied natural gas from Qatar for 27 years, cementing the European nation's commitment to fossil fuels beyond 2050. In 2023, Total invested $300 million in a renewable energy joint venture with Adani Green Energy. The joint venture's portfolio capacity is 1,050 MW - 300 MW of operating capacity, 500 MW of solar projects under construction and 250 MW of projects under development, as well as solar and wind power projects in India.
At the end of January 2024, TotalEnergies reached an agreement with OMV to purchase a 50% stake in its joint venture in Malaysia (SapuraOMV) for $903 million. The deal includes the repayment of a $350 million loan from OMV to the joint venture.
On 21 February 2024, TotalEnergies and Airbus entered a strategic partnership to meet emission-reduction goals through the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). TotalEnergies will provide more than 50% of Airbus' European fuel requirements. Compared to fossil fuels, SAF can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90%. TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy entered an agreement on 6 March 2024 to purchase participating interests in South Africa's Orange Basin offshore oil field. Under the agreement, TotalEnergies will have the exclusive right to operate its wells in Block 3B/4B with a 33% interest holding, while QatarEnergy will receive a 24% interest in the same block. On 22 April 2024, OmanLNG and TotalEnergies signed a deal in which OmanLNG will provide 800,000 metric tons of liquefied natural gas. On 14 November 2024, TotalEnergies announced that it will fill all of its upstream assets with real-time methane leak detection equipment by 2025 to help minimize the emissions. This is expected to help the company in its target of slashing methane emissions to nearly zero percent by 2030. On 15 November 2024, TotalEnergies, BP, Shell and Equinor promised to invest $500 million to increase the access to affordable energy, focusing primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, south and southeast Asia. This would include domestic solar energy systems, micro-electricity grids, energy production, transport, logistics and storage, e-mobility technologies, and modern cooking fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). On 3 December 2024 TotalEnergies announced its plans to build a 0.3 gigawatt (GW) solar park in Saudi Arabia, while another leading company from France EDF has been assigned to build two solar parks with a total of 1.4 GW.
In January 2025, TotalEnergies sold all of its service stations in Mali to Coly Energy Mali, a subsidiary managed by the Beninese company Bénin Petro. On 18 February 2025, TotalEnergies confirmed its departure from Burkina Faso, after 70 years of presence, in Burkina Faso.
TotalEnergies was accused by the French court in October 2025 of having misled consumers with its environmental claims. They were told to remove messages of wanting to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 from the company website. It is the first time that the french "greenwashing" law has been imposed on a fossil fuel company.
In December 2025, the company terminated its ADR program and converted all ADRs into ordinary shares. As a reason, the company stated that the investor base is increasingly located in North America, with around 40.8% of the company being owned by North American investors, compared to 24.6% held by French investors, including employees.
In March 2026, the US President Donald Trump paid TotalEnergies $928 million to stop the wind project and fossil fuel investment planned for the US east cost. The money was reimbursed on the condition that it be used to reinvest in hydrocarbon projects.
In April 2026, TotalEnergies and UAE-based clean energy company Masdar signed a preliminary binding agreement to create a joint venture (JV) with each company owning 50% to combine some of their renewable energy activities across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
On 16 June 2026 the European Commission granted, TotalEnergies and Masdar, clearance for the transaction. Valued at $2.2 billion, the Joint venture functions as an exclusive platform for both companies to develop, build, own, and operate onshore renewable energy projects in nine key Asian markets, including South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Azerbaijan. The deal combines 3 GW of existing operational renewable assets with a 6 GW development pipeline aimed for completion by 2030.
On 3 August 2026, TotalEnergies acquired Shell’s European onshore renewables portfolio, comprising 500 MW of operating and under-construction solar and wind assets. The transaction also included a 3.5 GW development pipeline across Europe.
In August 2026, TotalEnergies agreed to sell KKR a 50% stake in a 1.2 GW portfolio of onshore solar and wind assets across Germany, Spain, France and Poland. The transaction valued the portfolio at €1.8 billion, with TotalEnergies retaining the remaining 50% and continuing to operate the assets.
On 1 October, TotalEnergies announced plans to invest $10 billion in Argentina, primarily to expand oil and gas production. The investment includes new wells in Tierra del Fuego and increased gas production in Neuquén.
From Wikipedia’s article on TotalEnergies, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8