TOTAL group

Total, TotalFina, AS24

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Shortcut to Total maps from outside France

Brief History

TOTAL's origins go back to 1924 when the Compagnie Française des Pétroles (CFP) was incorporated in Paris to provide a French national champion to compete with the Anglo-Saxon firms then dominating France and Europe's oil industry. Initially CFP concentrated on exploration and production of oil, mainly in the Middle East (Iraq) and, after 1933, petrol refining. Products were sold to large wholesalers such as Desmarais Frères (Azur) or Mory.

After the Second World War, CFP realised it needed to develop its own secure sales outlets and started the process in Africa in 1947. The first TOTAL stations in Europe came in France in 1954 (initially franchised by Azur and OZO) and the following year CFP announced its decision to start its own network and bought Aquila in Italy. In 1956 it moved into the Netherlands and in the next decade added Australia, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Britain. In the late 1950s and early 1960s it bought out Lille, Bonnières & Colombes (Stellis), Omnium Française des Pétroles (OZO) and Azur and in 1966 moved into the USA with a stake in Leonard Refineries. Later acquisitions included Arco's British outlets, but the expansion slowed after 1970. TOTAL remains active in much of Europe (although it has sold its US, Australian, Austrian and Swiss operations) and is the second largest marketer in Africa (after Shell).

This ca1959 map of Belgium shows the old Total "flame" symbol; it was prepared by Cartographie Mercedes at 1:400,000.

In 1991 TOTAL acquired Yacco, a large domestic lubricant company. TOTAL confirmed its position as Europe's third largest oil company by merging with Fina in 1998 to form TotalFina and at the end of 1999 acquired Elf in an initially hostile takeover that was encouraged by the French Government in order to create a national champion in the oil sector. The Fina and Elf names were soon eliminated from all except their most important markets (Fina in Belgium, Elf in France and Eastern Germany) and in early 2003 a new Total identity was introduced to replace all three former brands.

Maps: TOTAL

French Maps

TOTAL has never had a particularly extensive map programme, although it has issued more than its fair share of unusual or thematic maps.
The five maps above represent a cross-section of older French issues. From left to right, the first map is from 1965 and has France Nord on one side and France Sud on the reverse. Earlier issues, from 1962 looked almost identical but only covered either North or South (in line with the Michelin issues 998 and 999 on which they were based). Even earlier, in 1959, the same style of cover (and map scale) was used but France was broken down into regions. These maps all mark towns and villages with Total stations and are at the scale of 1:1,000,000. Next to it, in a similar style, is a 1963 issue covering the newly opened Autoroute A1 which ran for just 44km. The base map is a Michelin issue at 1:200,000 and again station locations are flagged.
Service stations were sufficiently common in France that it was almost superfluous marking locations. However all-night stations were not common in the 1960s and the 1966 map lists just 133 (at a time when Total had over 10,000 outlets). A rudimentary map from Blondel la Rougery is included. By 1977 there were 364 all-night stations and Total used a proper map by Recta-Foldex to show their locations. Total has always been strongly placed on the Autoroutes, and in the 70s and 80s jointly published a booklet with the road operating companies showing strip maps of the routes. Total service areas are highlighted and the example shown is dated 1981.

At first sight this map is not a Total map at all, as was given away free by Autoroutes du Sud de la France in 1994-5. But the small print notes that it was with the participation of Total, and the main map marks only Total stations on autoroutes or other limited access highways across the country. ASF's autoroutes are highlighted in blue; other motorways are in green, and other main roads in yellow.
The reverse side contains strip maps of the ASF autoroutes (which do indicate non-Total stations, but with no logos), as well as information about the roads and the services to be found. Gabelli put the package together; the main map is at 1:1,600,000 (seen here at double size).

The five maps of France shown above are special titles from the mid to late 1990s. The first three promote Total's GR payment card, although the centre left one, from 1997, is aimed specifically at automated fuelling for Grand Routiers (truckers) showing GR Master locations. The left map is from 1995 and marks only autoroute and automated GR locations. The middle map, sold for 25Fr (the others were probably free) is a small format atlas with 132 pages of high quality maps and a full listing of stations taking GR cards.
The next two maps both date from 1998. The first shows LPG sites selling TOTALGAZ and the other one stadiums hosting the 1998 football World Cup. This is only in English and German (but came from a Total garage in Luxembourg!) and a French/English version also exists. Cartography differs on all 4 of the 5 maps: from L-R they are credited as CART, Media-Cartes, (anonymous, but similar to Marco Polo/EuroCart), CART and Leader Communications.

In 2003, Total took a decision to unify most stations under an updated Total image, although Elf was repositioned in France at both an upmarket supplier of oils and a chain of discount blue and yellow filling stations. No French maps are known with the new Total or Elf images, but a recent example from Total in Belgium is shown on the next page, devoted to Total maps from outside France.

Maps: AS24

AS24 is the brand name used by Total on its, generally unmanned, dedicated fuelling points for commercial vehicles. AS24 is found at over 300 locations in 14 European countries (although there is only a single site in each of Belarus, Ireland and Portugal). Their sites are often located on the edge of industrial zones, or more rarely at conventional service stations (many of which are independently branded, not in the Total group). The 304 page guide contains instructions on how to use AS24 pumps in 12 languages, with detailed access and small locator maps for each outlet. The guide ends with 8 pages of small scale maps covering most of Europe prepared by Gabelli, Paris.

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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 2000-7