thumb|elf aquitaine logo elf aquitaine was a french oil company which merged with totalfina to form totalfinaelf. the new company changed its name to total in 2003. elf has been maintained as a major brand of total. ==history== elf aquitaine's heritage is rooted among three french oil companies: rÃ©gie autonome des pÃ©troles (rap), sociÃ©tÃ© nationale des pÃ©troles d'aquitaine (snpa), and bureau de recherches de pÃ©troles (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'activitÃ©s pÃ©troliÃ¨res (erap). erap had snpa, union gÃ©nÃ©rale des pÃ©troles (ugp), and union industrielle des pÃ©troles (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 et lubrifiants de france (france gasoline and lubricants). elf was the first company to pioneer a total synthetic racing oil. in 1973, the subsidiary snpa set up a pharmaceuticals subsidiary called sanofi and acquired the pharmaceutical groups labaz, castaigne, and robilliart, and also bought interests in a cosmetics company.fred aftalion a history of the international chemical industry chemical heritage foundation, 2001 in 1976 elf-erap merged with antar pÃ©troles de l'atlantique and became sociÃ©tÃ© 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. 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. ===hoax=== elf aquitaine spent millions of dollars in the 1979 great oil sniffer hoax to develop a new "gravity wave-based oil detection system", which was later revealed to be a scam, and lost over $150 million. == fraud scandal == the elf scandal which came to light in 1994 in france was according to the guardian, 'the biggest fraud inquiry in europe since the second world war... elf became a private bank for executives who spent Â£200 million on political favours, mistresses, jewellery, fine art, villas and apartments'.{{cite news | last = cohen | first = nick | title = the politics of sleaze | url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1086486,00.html | accessdate = 2007-12-16 | work=the guardian | location=
Chemical_companies_of_France MitterrandaPasqua_affair Motor_oils Oil_companies_of_France Petroleum_products Total_S.A.