“Pioneers for 100 Years”, a Film Retracing the Amazing History of TotalEnergies

Introduction

1924. A small group of Frenchmen embark on an impossible mission: securing oil resources for a country that has scarcely any.

One hundred years later, TotalEnergies employs over 100,000 people. It’s a multi-energy company operating across the globe.

It straddles between two worlds, the world of oil and gas and the world of decarbonized energy.

How did this incredible adventure start?

It was a journey that followed the path of history, the changing needs of society, and the challenges of each period time.

The First World War

The First World War. Motorized vehicles appeared on the battlefield. According to Georges Clemenceau, gasoline was as vital to victory as blood.

France realized that it was entirely dependent on British and American oil companies for its supply. It needed access to oil, it was a question of national security.

So, in 1924, the country created the "Compagnie française des pétroles", TotalEnergies’ ancestor, which acquired Germany’s confiscated shares in the Turkish Petroleum Company.
Then the pioneers stepped in: a small group of men fighting to defend there rights alongside the other shareholders.

Meanwhile, in the field, other pioneers were hard at work: geologists. One night in 1927, victory. Their tenacity paid off at last, when they struck oil in Iraq.

Interwar period

The Roaring Twenties, really roared! The world was running at high speed to re-establish a productive industrial sector: the mass production of vehicles, commercial aviation, and large-scale maritime transport, needing more and more fuel!

This change of scale triggered an industrial boom. Everything had to be built from scratch. A pipeline of over 1,850 km, the longest in the world and the first to cross borders. An entire refining industry. The largest tanker ever launched. France's first natural gas deposit is discovered at Saint-Marcet.

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These achievements deserve a special mention in the roll of honor of French technology.

Transition

At the end of the Thirties, the Company’s precursors were well positioned. Still small compared to their rivals on the world stage, but ready to grow in pace with demand.

But then, the Second World War broke out. The infrastructure were sabotaged or bombed. It would all need to be rebuilt.

Post-war

After the war, there was a wave of optimism. We built big. We had more children. We wanted to live better. The new world had new idols: cars, for going on vacation, and... plastic.

Synthetic materials for everything and everyone.

For the Company, that meant examining towards the infinitely scale. It was all about molecules. An adventure that started in the lab.

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Scientific research is a safeguard for our future.

These were our first steps in petrochemicals.

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The structure of the petroleum molecule is being change into other substances, new substances.

From these new industrial complexes emerged products with high added value to make surfacing, packaging, textiles, resins… as well as oils and fuels with enhanced performance, retailed for the first time under the name… Total.

A network was born, and it would keep growing.

1950s-1960s

But at the same time, there were new geopolitical upheavals. Independence movements started in Algeria, Iraq, and West Africa.

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The crowd lined up behind their national leaders.

Oil producing countries turned the tables and moved to take control of their resources. A huge challenge for the oil companies.

So the Company set out to find new reserves and diversify its resources.

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The Group is considering the possibility of offshore drilling in these ice-bound seas.

In France, the giant natural gas deposit Lacq, is discovered. Nicknamed France's Texas, it promises extraordinary potential. A real challenge faced by the Company's pioneers!

These pioneers included engineers who had the novel idea to cool the gas into a liquid.

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This plant is one of the first of its kind in the world.

And then, gas began to cross the oceans.

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The Jules Verne: the first French LNG tanker intended to transport liquid gas at minus 160 degrees.

The geographic limits were constantly being pushed forward.

Already operating in the Middle East, North Africa, France, and North America, the Company now moved into Asia, particularly Indonesia.

It expanded its operations in sub-Saharan Africa, Gabon, Congo, and began sea exploration, the great unknown.

By the end of the Sixties, the Company had gone global.

1970s-1990s

In the early Seventies, the energy market was no longer dominated by the oil majors. OPEC dramatically increased oil prices, leaving the world in shock.

The Oil crisis. The world experiences gasoline shortages for the first time.

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Now for the first time since Creation, we can foresee a time where they may not be any more sources of energy for us to consume.

Inflation followed, falling industrial output, and mass unemployment. It was the end of the post-war boom.

With rising oil prices, new reserves in difficult areas became profitable. So we pushed the boundaries even further.

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Exploiting this layer of gas at depths of over 100m required a great deal of imagination, courage, and new techniques...

At sea, there were dynamic positioning vessels, deepwater drilling, horizontal drilling, high-pressure welding… A series of firsts by engineers and drillers.

We could exploit fields that were previously inaccessible, like Ekofisk, Frigg, and Alwyn.

Then, the adventure of the very deep offshore strated. The pioneers are still pushing the limits foward, in Angola, with the Golden Block 17, and in Nigeria.

Transition

Technological innovation allowed supply to keep pace with demand. It seemed that nothing would stop the oil age.

During this period, there were three companies in the field, sometimes rivals, sometimes partners that finally merged at the end of the century.

Together, they became the world’s fourth-largest oil major: TotalFinaElf.

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For the first time ever, the new group’s shareholders will vote at the same General Assembly.

But then, the company was shaken by a major crisis.

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It started with an SOS at 6 am.

The sinking of the Erika.

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The stern of the boat leaks fuel oil.

And a major oil spill.

Then, nearly two years later, another crisis.

At the turn of the 21^st century

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Terrible explosion à Toulouse, dans une usine chimique.
  A huge explosion in Toulouse at a chemical plant...

The explosion of the AZF plant in the south of France. Both the Company and the country were badly shaken.

These risks called for a proportionate response. The Company instaured safety to the rank of value.

The message was sent worldwide.

This was essential for the employees, stakeholders, and even for the future of the Company.

2010s-2020s

At the dawn of the new millennium, scientists are unanimous, and awareness is changing: we must act against climate change.

So the Company changed its strategy, declaring its ambition to be a leader in the energy transition.

More energy, less emissions. That’s our path. In addition to oil and gas, the Company is investing in electricity and renewables, and in low-carbon molecules in order to become an integrated multi-energy Company.

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Energy is reinventing itself.
That is why Total is transforming and becoming TotalEnergies.

TotalEnergies, a new name that expresses the Company’s transition and its resolute dynamic.

Our goal: continuing to provide the energy the world needs today while building the energy system of tomorrow.

A huge challenge that the men and women at TotalEnergies are ready to meet, as they write the narrative of the next hundred years, with their Pioneer Spirit.