Total's Geosciences Department focuses on exploration (finding oil and gas), appraisal (measuring the amounts) and evelopment (producing oil and gas efficiently). The key contributors are geophysicists, geologists and reservoir engineers, who work together as a team. To find oil and gas fields and assess their size, geophysicists use seismic reflection to generate images of the Earth's subsurface, a bit like a large-scale ultrasound.

In the Exploration & Production sector, Total is noted for steady growth in its production and in its oil and gas reserves, thanks to its positions in the North Sea, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and America. Once a prospected area is shown to be promising, a subsidiary drilling operation is set up and the Well Drilling Engineer drills wells to confirm the presence of hydrocarbons.

Total has participating interests in more than thirty refineries throughout the world, and operates particularly efficient units in Europe where it also holds the position of largest refiner in the zone. A Process Engineer is in charge of several units of a refinery for which he or she ensures: technical monitoring, analysis of incidents and supervision of the corrective action taken, technical refinements designed to optimise the operation and safety of the units.

The post of Oil & Gas Installation Engineer provides an access point to a wide range of very different but complementary professions: Process, Exploitation (Production, Maintenance & Inspection, Well Performance) or Project Engineer for example and covering a variety of technical fields, from bringing in a typical gusher to operating deep-water offshore wells, heavy oil processing installations or LNG production.

The main tasks of a Console Operator are to ensure that safety and environmental regulations are observed in the operation of the units, and that the refinery installations function as they should.

Downstream Research Engineers have two main duties which require constant synthesis: - Always staying in close touch with the current industrial activities of the Group. - Anticipating future requirements, which are dictated mainly by technological or regulatory developments.

Geology in an oil company ranges in scale from the basin down to a sample. The work is of an inclusive nature and brings into play the full range of geological methods of investigation and analysis, always in combination with the applications supplied by geophysics and reservoir engineering - Synthesis geologists - Operations geologists - Reservoir geologists - Specialist geologists

A Reservoir Engineer, whether in a subsidiary or at headquarters, helps to evaluate the deposits discovered and to optimise their development, then their production. His function is to evaluate the production potential of deposits and the technical means used to optimise oil and gas recovery rates.

Research engineers work on short-term projects set out in business plans, to meet existing needs. They also make suggestions to the business unit for the design of products and solutions that could be added to Total Petrochemicals' line on a longer-term basis.

Process engineers fall into two categories. The first group works in a central department covering several plants simultaneously and deals with medium- and long-term issues. The second group is assigned to a specific production facility and spends more time on short-term problems.

The chief responsibility of production engineers is to carry out the production plan created by the business unit while working to meet safety, quality, lead time and cost goals.