FINAFINAFina was established in 1920 as the Compagnie Financière Belge des Pétroles, a name which within a couple of years had become shortened to Petrofina. Initially starting with oil production in the Balkans and Chechnya, it soon added marketing assets in Belgium and Northern France. A joint marketing venture with the American Pure Oil only lasted until 1923 but the name (Purfina) stuck until the late 1950s in much of Europe. Before the war it expanded into the Netherlands (in another partnership, this time with Sinclair) and much of SE Europe. In 1939 it added Cities Service's British operation Citex.
After the war, Petrofina expanded into North America and made strategic acquisitions in Italy and Africa. The Fina brand name was first used in Britain and Canada in the mid 50s and by the end of the decade its petrols were also on sale in Germany, Norway, Sweden and Cyprus.
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Never a major retailer in any country (it ranked fourth in even its home market of Belgium) Fina expanded in the 1960s, before retrenching in the 1980s. Canadian operations were the first to go to the newly formed Petro-Canada, and the Greek and Swiss networks were sold to BP. The Swedish and Cypriot chains went to local interests and in 1997 Norwegian outlets were swapped for a number of Dutch Shell sites. Finally in 1998, Fina succumbed to a merger proposal (in reality a takeover) by the French company TOTAL, to form TotalFina. Fina Touring Service logo |
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Maps: Purfina
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The Belgian Purfina booklet map shown (left) dates from the mid 1950s and was produced in two versions (French and Dutch) under an identical cover. Nine pages of text described attractions in each province and each page was faced by two tone illustrations supporting the text. 16 pages of maps completed the booklet although they lacked any road numbering or distance indications. The covers were printed on light card and had photographs of Fina's laboratory and refinery on the inside. |
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These two Purfina maps of Germany probably date from 1958 and 1959, with the later one covering just the Southern half of the country. Both were prepared for Purfina by Hans König of Frankfurt and, as they are printed on one side of the paper only, at the relatively small scales of 1:1.5mn and 1:1 million respectively. Each carries a double advertising panel describing how Purfina operates internationally, but only the earlier one refers to it being based in Brussels. The later map's advert for Purfina's Motortonic oil introduces its new 10W-30 multigrade. |
Maps: Fina|
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In 1964 Fina introduced its Bonnes Vacances summer promotions featuring inflatable toys such as penguins, li-los and beach balls. At much the same time it also started a touring service emulating those of Shell and BP, and produced packs for holidaymakers that included maps to a more or less uniform style. |
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Maps, with cartography by H. König, were produced for nine West German cities (later reduced to five plus the Ruhrgebiet). There were 8 sectional maps of West Germany at 1:500,000, one of neighbouring Austria where there were no Fina service stations, a touring book of Germany and a phrasebook with six major European languages. The Italian map was by Agostini; Fina had entered Italy by buying the independent distributors Permolio and ABC. The city map located all Fina outlets but only Fina's Touring Service stations were marked on the Italian one. | |||
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Fina's Belgian maps are often undated. Left comes from around 1970, and the extract map shows how its stations (shown by a blue shield) clustered along its Southern border with France: petrol cost 20% less in Belgium. Although the map did not name a cartographer, the next map, from around 1975, credits de Rouck and used the same cartography at 1:300,000 but no longer showed station locations. |
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The two maps (left) were both produced by CARTO of Brussels, and are dated 11/91 and 11/94 respectively. They are at a slightly smaller scale of 1:350,000 and both mark and list station locations under the Fina, Elrop and "de Smet & van Diest" brands. Both maps have reversible covers with one side in French and the reverse in Flemish. |
The ca1978 issue (right) is almost certainly unique to the truck stop that sold it in the village of Eynatten on the German border near Aachen. A card cover in just French and German promoting the E5 service area has been attached to a stock Falk patent-fold map of Belgium & Luxembourg. |
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Fina have continued to issue maps for their Belgian card holders, right up to an issue under the TotalFina identity.
Belgium dealer map image courtesy of Richard Horwitz; Brussels map courtesy Michel Breugelmans
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Reflecting its long history, Fina's French subsidiary produced a number of non-standard maps. In the early 1960s it used Michelin's Grandes Routes. (sections 998 & 999) to cover France in two sections at 1:1,000,000. By 1970 it had a single sheet map of France supported by 12 regional Cartes Touristiques covering not quite all of the country, prepared by RECTA-Foldex. All 3 maps locate Fina stations, the newer two giving addresses as well as numbered blobs on the map. |
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The atlas (left) is from the late 1950s and has 16 pages of sectional maps by W & AK Johnson & GW Bacon Ltd, Edinburgh & London. On the back it says "more and more Fina petrol stations appear every month on the roads of Britain". |
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By the mid 1960s, Map Productions Ltd had taken over and split the country into two sections at 10 miles to the inch with a gazetteer listing points of interest. London came on a third sheet. A few years later the same company had increased the scale to 5 miles to the inch spread over 5 sections, including London.
After sectional maps were discontinued, Bartholomew was the cartographer on maps produced by Kirkgate Enterprises of Leeds (1983, far right, above). The single sheet (at 9 miles to the inch) omitted Northern Scotland, where there were no Fina stations. A similar cover and the same production team were used on the 1987 map (not shown) which reverted to all of Britain at the original scale of 10 miles to the inch.
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In the mid 1990s Fina branded a version of the AA Big Road Atlas for customers who purchased a 5 litre can of oil at a Fina station (shown at 2/3rds size, left). None of the British maps show any Fina locations, although there was a 1996 joint production with Gulf (right) aimed at payment card holders that marked all Fina stations and selected locations from its Butler subsidiary. |
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Maps: Socal Fina, Socal Purfina|
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From late 1952, Fina marketed in Switzerland in a joint venture with the Société Alsacienne de Petrole (SocAl, not to be confused with Standard Oil of California, known as SOCal) and used the Socal Purfina name until 1960. This 1958 map from Kümmerley & Frey is to a scale of 1:600,000 and is printed on one side of the paper only. The front cover is plain, but the rear shows a car flying as a result of using Socal Purfina SUPER with "indice d'octane élevé" (elevated octane rating). |
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From 1960 until the mid 1970s, the simpler Socal Fina name was used. Its maps followed the style of other European Fina maps and although still drawn by Kümmerley & Frey were to the larger scale of 1:500,000 with towns with Fina stations marked by a shield. After a few years under the Fina name, the chain was sold to BP in 1983. |
The logo on the left was used until around 1970, when it was replaced by the one of the right, giving greater prominence to the Fina shield.
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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 1999-2008 |
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