Elf Aquitaine

Elf Aquitaine is a former French oil company, which is also known under the brand name ELF. The company merged in 2000 with TotalFina to the new company TotalFinaElf, that is, since 2003 total.

History

1965 merged Régie autonomy of Pétroles (RAP ) and Bureau de Recherches de Petrole (BRP ) for holding Entreprise de Recherches et d' Activité Pétrolières ( ERAP ). ERAP got after a short time the group name Elf Aquitaine.

In 1966 there were 4,500 petrol stations. In 1967 the company had 12,000 employees.

The preparations for the merger of UGP and UGD to ERAP were completed in October 1966. On April 27, 1967, the dissimilar brands and products have been united under the brand ELF and the SNPA merged with the ERAP to Elf ERAP.

1969 won the British Formula 1 driver Jackie Stewart ELF Matra team from the World Cup.

In 1971, the areas ERAP and Société Nationale des Pétroles d' Aquitaine ( SNPA ) of the Société Nationale Elf Aquitaine ( SNEA ), short Elf Aquitaine were summarized.

In 1973, the subsidiary Sanofi was founded ( Health and Beauty ). In 1993, Sanofi Yves Saint Laurent.

1976 Elf - ERAP was later renamed Société National Elf Aquitaine ( SNEA ), in Elf Aquitaine.

Until the 1980s, petrol stations remained in France under the trademark of Antar.

From then on, the UCP performed under the name ELF Union and the UGD under the name ELF distribution on. At the same ELF worked with Matra sports together with competition cars.

In 1983 the chemical company Atochem was founded as a subsidiary. Atochem in 1989 was sold to the U.S. Pennwalt Corporation.

1992 acquired Elf Aquitaine, the German Minol. The Leuna affair overshadowed this trade.

2000 merge Elf Aquitaine and TotalFina for TotalFinaElf group. Shortly thereafter, the name Total was only used for the entire Group.

ELF brand name and logo

In the summer of 1964 a number of different combinations of three, four or five letters were developed for the upcoming new holding company ERAP, including Ritm, Alzan, Elf, Elf and Elan. Ultimately, the choice fell on ELF. The name has eleven nothing to do with the number and does not contain any abbreviations.

The logo represents a stylized drill bit is with a blue and a red side, which remains white in the middle, symbol of the French flag.

Eleven today

Today, the brand name is used Elf with a new color scheme as a cheap brand of gasoline well below the luxury brand TOTAL.

Elf Aquitaine and the policy

Under the Elf President Loïk Le Floch - Prigent 1989-1993 worked his confidant Alfred Sirven as Director of General Affairs, who ran together with André Tarallo as Monsieur Afrique in Geneva, a subsidiary Elf Aquitaine International (EAI ), about the large bribes for various African activities were paid. Judicial investigations, inter alia, the French Supreme adjudicator of the Palais de Justice, Eva Joly, revealed another subsidiary in Geneva, Rivunion, founded in 1980, which was his slush fund in Switzerland for Le Floch Prigent -. With the takeover of the Spanish refinery Ertoil of Kuwaiti public authorities which quickly needed money in connection with the Second Gulf War in 1990, apparently the Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi in between, the Ertoil resold after only four months to the Spanish group Cepsa on which Elf Aquitaine was involved with 34%. Right Hand of Auchi was the Spanish politician and businessman Daniel de Busturia. The takeover should have flowed up to FF 54 million in commissions.

In Germany, Elf Aquitaine became known in the early 1990s in connection with the acquisition of Leuna -Werke and Minol filling station network by the so-called Leuna affair among others.

When involvement of Elf Aquitaine in Uzbekistan are also commissions have flowed to President Islom Karimov, a portion of which should have gone to a friend of then-President François Mitterrand, the novelist Françoise Sagan, who stood to justice.

As early as the 1960s, large amounts of money for election campaigns, but also for the acquisition of weapons has been made available by various French media reports from Elf to politicians in Africa. At times, to have been the legal cover for intelligence activities of France in Africa elf. Le Floch Prigent - pressed it to the court as follows:

" 1962 convinced Pierre Guillaumat General de Gaulle to create a parallel structure of oil technicians. Through the establishment of Elf in addition to total the Gaullists had hoped to build a secular branch of the [ French ] State in Africa [ ... ] a kind of permanent oil ministry [ ... ] a kind of intelligence in the oil-producing states. "

Eleven offered the Gaullist President ideal camouflage and financial resources for political and military operations in French areas of interest in Africa. The boards of directors of the oil company considered the Gaullist leaders as their only legitimate lords and their expected return to power. They even funded attempts to weaken the authority of the nichtgaullistischen President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Eleven distinct and distant politician in Gabon, Cameroon, Angola and the Congo and extends its influence to the whole francophone Africa. Even in English-speaking countries such as Nigeria Elf to have had great influence. Also in Uzbekistan and Venezuela to have had eleven political ambitions. It appeared the name of the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo, on whose discrete consultant has been none other than Alfred Sirven. With the help of Omar Bongo of the oil company was admitted to OPEC, is involved in the illegal trade in nuclear technology. Omar Bongo pocketed by the Elf refinery Sogara in Port -Gentil in Gabon January 21, 1992 in Libreville personally in cash CFA francs 100 million, the currency of 14 francophone West African States. All major French parties were given by Elf donations.

In the Mitterrand era, the largest group of France served as an instrument of economic and political influence of France abroad. But unlike his predecessors Mitterrand had not confined to the national argument, but required by the communities logic of robbers a share of the spoils for his party and his followers. The Gaullists should not be neglected, but all parties should get some of the pie. In turn, individual members could accumulate private wealth. Mitterrand should, according to Le Floch Prigent - be kept informed of the payments and the state of negotiations and the payments have instructed personally. This requires extensive slush funds had been invested in Switzerland that their donations are distributed over Liechtenstein letterbox companies and contact people, such as Dieter Holzer.

1991 Elf Aquitaine was first traded on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange. Successor of Le Floch Prigent - Philippe was Jaffré. 1996, the French government sold its shares but retained a golden share. The company merged in 2000 with TotalFina to the new company TotalFinaElf.

Trivia

1967, a gas station was fitted along a main road in the new design as a PR campaign for a film with Mireille Darc.

302992
de