'oil' - tagged features

We stay in France for some more serious news: last Wednesday The French oil company Total was ordered to pay it's a share of nearly 200 million in damages for a 1999 oil spill off the northwest coast of France. The Erika oil tanker broke in half in December of 1999, spilling almost 20-thousand tons of crude oil into the sea—which killed hundreds of thousands of birds along 400 kilometers of coastline. Radio France International's Sarah Elzas was at the courtroom in Paris for the verdict. 

For the first time in France, people accused of bearing responsibility for an oil spill, are being brought before a penal court. Seven years after the ecological disaster which devastated four hundred kilometres of France's western coast, the Erika trial started in Paris this week. In 1999, the Erika, a twenty five year old, single hulled, rusty oil tanker, was transporting thirty tons of heavy fuel when it sank off the coast of Brittany. Jail terms and fines worth hundreds of millions of Euros are at stake in this trial, which is expected to last four months. Radio France International's Nick Champeaux went to the first hearings, and he filed this report from Paris. 

The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious energy package, in a bid to combat climate change and reduce Europe's dependency on foreign energy sources. The move came just days after Russia turned off the taps on a key pipeline, running through Belarus to the Czech republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Moscow finally resumed oil supplies to Europe on Wednesday, but this new standoff with Russia's President Vladimir Poutin, highlights once more the urgent need for Europe to diversify its energy resources. reports from Brussels. 

Recently, Romanian and Bulgarian authorities spotted an oil slick on the surface of the Danube River. It soon became apparent that the oil installations at Prahovo in Serbia were to be blamed for the release of an "undetermined quantity" of heating oil into the Danube, one of Europe's most important environmental and economic river-ways. In less than a week the Romanian authorities managed to clean the 50 km long oil slick of oil spending more than 300 thousand Euros in the process . Fortunately the damage to the environment was minimal. But now the question is: Who is foot the 300 thousand euro clean up bill? Radio Romania International's Iulian Muresan reports that the lack of trans-boundary environmental legislation in countries outside the EU renders these kinds of issues even thornier than they already are. 

Many European countries and particularly Poland have long relied almost entirely on Russian sources when it comes to energy. Trying to look for alternative gas and oil providers is not really something new in Polish politics. But after Moscow pulled the plug on Ukraine earlier this year and Germany signed a deal with Russia to pump natural gas under the Baltic Sea bypassing Poland, Warsaw's efforts to diversify its energy supplies seem to have been given a new impetus. Cooperation will be strengthened with Norway. And Poland is now also increasingly looking towards the Caucasus for its energy needs. 

On Thursday, leaders and representatives from more than 20 countries descended on Ceyhan, Turkey's main Mediterranean oil terminal. They are there for the official opening of the world's second longest oil pipeline. The 3 billion euro Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline runs from Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey And will deliver more than million tonnes of oil a week to the world's markets. The oil comes from the Eurasian states of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The region used to be part of the former Soviet Union. And that is why this pipeline is seen as having not only economic importance but political as well. For the United States, one of the pipeline's main political backers, it is seen as a crucial step not only to unlocking urgently needed resources, but also to giving the energy rich region greater independence from its former Russian master. 

Sweden gained headlines earlier this year - when it declared it would be oil-free by 2020.A special commission made up of industrialists, car makers, energy experts and the Prime Minister himself was set up to make recommendations on how to bring the vision about. Earlier this month the white paper was published - but it all turned out to be a bit more modest. Radio Sweden's Dave Russell was at the launch, and joins us in the studio.