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Maurel & Prom (Shipping company, France)

History of Maurel & Prom
House flag of Maurel & Prom
Maurel Frères
Maurel & H. Prom

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History of Maurel & Prom

In 1813, Maurel & Prom, founded by two famous families in Bordeaux, was set up to ship goods by boat from Bordeaux to the French colonies in West Africa. The shipping company of the same name was founded in 1830. Over the years, the company acquired several trading posts and became one of the main shipping companies servicing Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon and Congo.
At the end of the XIXth century, Joseph Prom founded the Maurel & Prom oil factory, which was fed with groundnut imported from Senegal. On 6 August 1891, he purchased Château de Bel-Air, located in the municipality of Le Haillan. In 1892, Prom was elected in the municipal council of Le Haillan with 211 votes for 211 voters. He died in 1894 and Bel-Air was sold after the death of Prom's widow in 1916.

The Maurel & Prom line was closed down in 1970 following the crisis of maritime transport. The company went to food processing (chicken and fish farming). In 1995, Electricité et Eaux de Madagascar purchased 76% of the company and developed mining, forestry and shipping activities. The two companies separated in 1999; Maurel & Prom refocussed its business on oil and gas exploration and production, which began in Kouakouala (Congo) in 2000. The company built there a pipeline in 2002 and discovered a new deposit in M'boundi. In the meantime, Maurel & Prom has withdrawn from its non-strategic activities (agriculture, forestry, gold mining).
Maurel & Prom is now listed among the ten mid-sized oil companies in Europe.

Source: Company website

Ivan Sache, 15 January 2005

House flag of Maurel & Prom

by Ivan Sache

The house flag of Maurel & Prom is a white flag with a white rectangle bordered in yellow and charged with a red ampersand (&).

Ivan Sache, 15 January 2005

Maurel Frères

by Jarig Bakker

In the beginning of the XXth century, the main port of commerce of Senegal was not Dakar but Rufisque, where most trading houses of Bordeaux, including Maurel Charles, Maurel Frères and Maurel Louis had their headquarters.

The house flag of Maurel Frères is white with a red border and the blue letters MF.

Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies [wed26]

Jarig Bakker & Ivan Sache, 15 January 2005

Maurel & H. Prom

by Jarig Bakker

The house flag of Maurel & H. Prom is white with a blue border and the red letters M&HP.

Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies [wed26]

Jarig Bakker, 20 December 2004