Elf Aquitaine`s heritage is rooted among three French oil companies

ELF
Elf Aquitaine's heritage is rooted among three French oil companies: Régie Autonome des Pétroles (RAP),
Société Nationale des Pétroles d'Aquitaine (SNPA), and Bureau de Recherches de Pétroles (BRP). These
companies were formed to exploit the discovery of a gas field in Saint-Marcet in the Aquitaine region of
south-western France. In December 1965 RAP and BRP were merged to form Entreprise de Recherches
et d'Activités Pétrolières (ERAP). ERAP had SNPA, Union Générale des Pétroles (UGP), and Union
Industrielle des Pétroles (UIP) as subsidiaries. The resulting company achieved vertical integration,
owning assets in all phases of the petrol business from exploration and production to the filling station.
On April 28, 1967 the company's disparate brands and products were unified under the Elf brand,
Essence Lubricants France. Elf was the first company to pioneer a total synthetic racing oil. In 1976
Elf-ERAP merged with Antar Pétroles de l'Atlantique and became Société Nationale Elf Aquitaine (SNEA),
later Elf Aquitaine. Elf Aquitaine was listed on the NYSE in 1991. In 1993 Elf was awarded the exclusive
contract to the Iraqi Oil Fields by then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.[citation needed] In 1996 the French
government sold its stake, retaining a Golden Share. In 2000 Elf Aquitaine merged with Total Fina to
form TotalFinaElf, which changed its name to Total in 2003
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