The French Embassy in Georgia is pleased to announce that French oil company TotalFinaElf has donated $100,000 toward meeting the energy needs of priority hospitals and orphanages in Tbilisi.

The aid will be distributed by Secours Populaire Français, a respected French humanitarian organization that since 1994 has operated in a number of regions of Georgia, including Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kaspi, Mtskheta, Gori, Tianeti and Akhalgori, South Ossetia. Secours Populaire Français has focused its programs on food safety and self-subsistence for vulnerable rural populations since 1998.

Secours Populaire Français will make the first delivery of diesel oil to priority hospitals in Tbilisi in late December and early January. A second delivery will be made in late January or early February.

The French Embassy hopes that this commitment by France’s TotalFinaElf and Secours Populaire Français will help to improve Georgia’s energy situation, for a better start to 2002.

TotalFinaElf is a front-ranking international company that produces and markets oil, gas and chemicals. It operates in more than 120 countries on five continents and has over 120,000 employees.

The company covers the entire oil chain, starting with exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas (output exceeds 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day). It is also involved in natural gas liquefaction, the gas downstream, transportation and refining, where it is the European leader. At the other end of the chain, operations include petroleum product marketing and international crude oil and product trading.

TotalFinaElf is also a major participant in petrochemicals and specialty chemicals, with a focus on rubber processing and coatings.

TotalFinaElf is a leading oil player in the Caspian region, specifically Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. In addition to exploring for and producing oil and natural gas, it intends to take part in the construction of a number of routes to export liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. The company is already working on a pipeline to transport gas from the Shah Deniz field.