What is "petrofina"

Petrofina was a Belgian oil company. It merged with Total in 1999 to form TotalFina, which after subsequent mergers has changed its name back to Total. In the United States, Fina's former refining and marketing operations are now owned by Texas-based Alon USA.

Petrofina was founded on the 25th of February 1920 by Hector Carlier his brother Fernand and Aloys Van de Vyvere as an Antwerp-based group called Compagnie Financière Belge des Pétroles, but changed to PetroFina to reflect their telegraph address name.

Petrofina's Canadian retail operations in eastern Canada were sold to the Canadian government and became part of Petro-Canada.

Petrofina merged with Total S.A. of France to form TotalFina and with Elf in 2000 to form TotalFinaElf. The company's current name is Total S.A. (since 2003).