ELF AQUITAINE

in full Socit Nationale Elf Aquitaine (French: Elf Aquitaine National Society), French corporate group formed on Sept. 1, 1976, in the reorganization and consolidation of petrochemical, mining, and several other industries. Until 1994, a French-government company, the Enterprise de Recherches et d'Activits Ptrolires (ERAP; Enterprise for Petroleum Search and Activity), held a majority interest in Elf Aquitaine. That year the government privatized the oil company, selling off its majority shares. Headquarters are in Paris. Ever since enactment of its oil law of 1928, France had exercised a considerably greater degree of state supervision over its oil companies than have other countries in western Europe. Government agencies issued licenses and regulations for extraction and refining in France and Algeria and, later, in other countries, controlling not only small concerns but also such giants as the Socit Nationale des Ptroles d'Aquitaine (SNPA), which was formed in 1941. On Jan. 1, 1966, two major government regulatory agencies were merged to form ERAP, which became a state holding company for all previously created French oil companies, including SNPA. The Elf Aquitaine group engages not only in the development, marketing, and shipping of petrochemicals (those made from natural gas and crude oil) but also in the mining of such ores as nickel and coal in France, North America, Africa, and Australia. It also has diversified into such industrial activities as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, health care, plastics, geothermal and solar energy, and data processing. The group obtained a major interest in the U.S. mining industry through a merger with Texasgulf Inc. in 1981.