1920

In Belgium, some bankers and investors create Petrofina to take part in developing Rumanian oil and to attack the Belgian and French markets.

To escape confiscation as payment for war damage, their holders move them into neutral structures, particularly Swiss, and then put them back on the market. Under pressure from the Crédit mobilier de Belgique company, three of those firms - Concordia, Internationalia and Vega - are purchased and regrouped to constitute Compagnie financière belge des pétroles - Petrofina.

At the same time, with an eye on distribution on the Belgian market, a company is established in partnership with the American firm Puritan Oil Company of Delaware, and it is called Purfina. But it very quickly fails because of the competition from the majors in English-speaking countries. Petrofina buys it in 1923 and keeps the trademark.

Later, Petrofina purchases the Ertvelde refinery from a private group that has invested in Russian oil. At the same time it sets up a French subsidiary destined to play an important role on the market.

At the same time, with an eye on distribution on the Belgian market, a company is established in partnership with the American firm Puritan Oil Company of Delaware, and it is called Purfina. But it very quickly fails because of the competition from the majors in English-speaking countries. Petrofina buys it in 1923 and keeps the trademark.

Later, Petrofina purchases the Ertvelde refinery from a private group that has invested in Russian oil. At the same time it sets up a French subsidiary destined to play an important role on the market.

1925 - 1940

Petrofina, benefiting from some Soviet oil supply contracts and from its Rumanian resources, bets on the French downstream sector and establishes the Dunkerque (Dunkirk) refinery. Petrofina company has developed substantially in the meantime, following a very different strategy.

The French Petrofina, like the Belgian division, multiplies contacts with the Soviets so as to build up an abundant resource in a field in which investors, as well as States, are reluctant to get involved. At the same time, the French party gets its hands on a family-owned group, Raffinerie des pétroles du Nord, which has substantial storage facilities in Rouen and Dunkirk, as well as a network of more than 1 500 pumps, and it launches construction of a modern refinery in Dunkirk.

Outside the Rumanian production, ever less controlled, and some risky efforts in Africa and in Venezuela, Petrofina is constituted as a group developing mainly in the downstream sector: transport, refining and distribution. France and Belgium are its preferential markets, but some bases are developed in the Congo and there is a temporary incursion into Italy. The business, listed on the Paris Bourse since 1921, is a prosperous one.

1960

Inflatable rings, dolphins and air-beds from the "Bonnes Vacances" publicity campaign invade the beaches of Europe. Year after year...

1991

Fina Europe builds a new factory for lubricants at Ertvelde. This hi-tech unit represents the core of the production and sale of internationally-renowned products.

1998

• Announcement of the Total Petrofina merger.