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| | An Oil Titans Next Challenge |
 | | Desmarest's success has made him one of the quiet heroes of French capitalism, showered good fortune on Total's shareholders and made Total a power to be reckoned with in the global oil business. |
 | | Desmarest listed Total's operating cash flows at roughly $12 billion in recent years, along with a low debt ratio, the availability of $5 billion in medium-term bank loans, and reserves of $9 billion thanks to Total's stake in Sanofi-Synthelabo, the French pharmaceutical group. |
 | | Desmarest shed excess baggage, like a European paint business he sold last year, and even took the step, daring by French standards, of stripping down the company's name from the unwieldy TotalFinaElf after the merger, to simply Total, better to reflect a unified sense of purpose. |
| www.nytimes.com /2003/10/31/business/worldbusiness/31total.html?ex=1383022800&en=7ccef2931331903e&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND (1195 words) |
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