Total Petrochemicals USA

Total Petrochemicals USA Inc. is a subsidiary of Total SA It engages in the production and marketing of petrochemical products. Its headquarters is the Total Plaza in Downtown Houston, Texas.

History

The company was incorporated in 1956 as American Petrofina Inc. It had $10 million capitalization and headquarters in Dallas. Belgian parent company Petrofina owned the majority of American Petrofina's stock—but an American, Harry A. Jackson Jr., served as its first president.

It purchased the small petroleum companies Panhandle Oil Co. in 1956 and the American Liberty Co. of Dallas in 1957, in order to begin actual operations In June 2000, Fina Oil & Chemical Co. was renamed Atofina Petrochemicals Inc. and the headquarters moved to Houston Texas.

In 1963, the company acquired Cosden Petroleum Corp. In 1968, it acquired Gulf Oil's Calumet City, Illinois facilities, to build a polystyrene plant. In 1973, Atofina acquired the Port Arthur Refinery from BP. In 1977, the company acquired polystyrene plants in Orange, California and Windsor, New Jersey. In 1984, it acquired ARCO's polypropylene plant in La Porte, Texas.