headquarters type soci t anonyme traded as euronext fp nyse tot industry oil and gas founded 1924 ; 92 years ago 1924 founder ernest mercier headquarters tour total courbevoie france area served worldwide key people patrick pouyann chairman & ceo products oil and gas exploration and production natural gas and lng trading and transportation oil refining and chemicals services fuel stations revenue us 165.357 billion 2015 1 profit us 5.087 billion 2015 1 total assets us 224.48 billion 2015 1 total equity us 92.49 billion 2015 1 number of employees 100 307 2014 1 website www.total.com total s.a. french pronunciation t tal ; english to t l or to t l is a french multinational integrated oil and gas company and one of the seven 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 . the company has its head office in the tour total in la d fense district in courbevoie west of paris . the company is a component of the euro stoxx 50 stock market index . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 compagnie fran aise des p troles cfp 1924 1985 1.2 total cfp and re branding to total 1985 2003 1.3 total 2003 present 2 organization 2.1 subsidiaries and affiliates of total s.a. 2.2 head office 2.3 senior management 2.3.1 group performance management committee 2.3.2 executive committee 2.4 business segments 2.4.1 upstream 2.4.2 supply and marketing 2.4.3 refining and chemicals 2.4.4 nuclear power 3 operations 4 acquisitions 5 sponsorship 6 environmental and safety records 7 controversies 7.1 malta 7.2 myanmar investments 7.3 italian bribes 7.4 un oil for food programme for iraq 7.5 investments in iran 7.6 bribery in iran 7.7 western sahara oil exploration 8 see also 9 references 10 external links history edit total plaza the headquarters of the subsidiary total petrochemicals usa in downtown houston compagnie fran aise des p troles cfp 1924 1985 edit the company was founded after world war i when then french prime minister raymond poincar rejected the idea of forming a partnership with royal dutch shell in favour of creating an entirely french oil company . at poincar s behest col. ernest mercier with the support of ninety banks and companies founded total on 28 march 1924 as the compagnie fran aise des p troles cfp literally the french petroleum company . petroleum was seen as vital in the case of a new war with germany . 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 3 and the red line agreement in 1928 rearranged the shareholding of cpf in tpc later renamed the iraq petroleum company in 1929 to 23.75 % . 4 the company from the start was regarded as a private sector company in view of its listing on the paris stock exchange in 1929 . the company during the 1930s 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 . 5 in 1954 cfp introduced its downstream product total brand of gasoline in the african continent and europe . 5 6 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 . 7 8 9 total cfp and re branding to total 1985 2003 edit the company renamed itself total cfp in 1985 to build on the popularity of its gasoline brand . 6 later in 1991 the name was changed to total when it became a public company listed on the new york stock exchange . the french government who used to control more than 30 percent of the company s stock in 1991 reduced its stake in the firm to less than 1 percent by 1996 6 10 in the time period between 1990 and 1994 foreign ownership of the firm increased from 23 per cent to 44 per cent . meanwhile 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 . 11 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 . 12 only 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 . 13 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 it was later renamed back to total on 6 may 2003 . during that rebranding the current globe logo was unveiled . 14 chart of the major energy companies dubbed big oil sorted by latest published revenue total 2003 present edit 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 . 15 the stake was later bought out by its partners . in may 2006 saudi aramco and total signed a mou to develop the jubail refinery and petrochemical project in saudi arabia which targeted 400 000 barrels per day bpd . on 21 september 2008 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 . 16 17 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 . 18 19 as of 2010 total is one of the world s major oil companies with over 96 000 employees and operates in more than 130 countries . 20 in september 2010 total announced plans to pull out of the forecourt market in the united kingdom . 21 in november 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 . 22 in 2013 total started the operation at kashagan with north caspian operating company . 23 it is the biggest discovery of oil reserves since 1968 . in 2013 total increased its stake in novatek to 16.96 % . 24 25 in september 2013 total and its joint venture partner agreed to buy chevron corporation s retail distribution business in pakistan for an undisclosed amount . 26 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 . 27 in july 2014 the company disclosed it was in exclusive talks to sell its lpg distribution business in france to pennsylvania based ugi corporation for 450 million 615 million . 28 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 and 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 . 29 patrick pouyanne who was total s refining chief at that time was appointed as ceo after christophe de margerie died . 30 patrick pouyann was appointed chairman of total on december 16 2015 in addition to his role as ceo . in february 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 5.7 bn final quarter loss . the company said it would also sell off 5bn worth of assets worldwide and cut exploration costs by 30 % . 31 by the 29 february 2016 the company had a share value of 102 136 million euros distributed in 2 454 003 592 shares . organization edit since september 2016 total has set up a new organization to achieve its one total company ambition to become the responsible energy major . 32 it is composed by the following segments exploration & production gas renewables & power refining & chemicals trading & shipping marketing & services total has also announced the creation of two new corporate divisions 32 people & social responsibility human resources ; health safety & environment ; the security division ; and a new civil society engagement division . strategy & innovation strategy & climate division responsible for ensuring that total s strategy incorporates the 2 c global warming scenario public affairs audit research & development the chief digital officer and the senior vice president technology . subsidiaries and affiliates of total s.a. edit headquarters of total cambodia in phnom penh cambodia as of 31 december 2014 total s.a. had 903 subsidiaries consolidated into the group results together with significant affiliate investments and joint ventures mostly in lpg . in addition total had other significant equity holdings amounting to about 3bn euros treated as investments and was involved in a number of significant joint ventures mostly relating to lpg and lng exploration production and shipping . the joint ventures that are treated as subsidiaries are listed in the consolidated subsidiary section . main consolidated subsidiaries abu dhabi gas liquefaction company ltd 5.00 % united arab emirates air total international s.a. switzerland amyris inc. 17.88 % united states angola block 14 b.v. 50.01 % netherlands operating in angola angola lng limited 13.60 % bermuda operating in angola as 24 france atlantic trading & marketing inc. united states atotech china chemicals ltd atotech b.v. netherlands atotech deutschland gmbh germany atotech taiwan basf total petrochemicals llc 40.00 % united states brass holdings company limited luxembourg brass lng ltd 17.00 % nigeria compagnie p troli re de l ouest cpo france cos mar company 50.00 % united states cosden llc united states cray valley usa llc united states cssa chartering and shipping services s.a. switzerland dalian west pacific petrochemical co. ltd wepec 22.41 % china dolphin energy limited 24.50 % united arab emirates e. f. oil and gas limited united kingdom elf aquitaine france elf aquitaine fertilisants france elf aquitaine inc. united states elf exploration production france elf exploration uk limited united kingdom elf petroleum iran france operating in iran elf petroleum uk limited united kingdom gaz transport & technigaz s.a.s. 30.00 % france grande paroisse s.a. france hutchinson argentina s.a. hutchinson autopartes