French company Total on trial over 1999 oil spill

A trial begins in Paris today to decide whether oil company Total SA and 14 other defendants were criminally responsible for France’s worst-ever oil spill eight years ago.

The Maltese-registered Erika tanker, hauling fuel oil owned by a unit of Total, split in two and capsized in rough seas on December 12, 1999 – spilling nearly 20,000 tonnes of oil into the Atlantic and onto France’s western coast.