Nature reserve hit by crude oil leak

THE government has promised more work to maintain the country’s network of oil pipelines after a major spill in a nature reserve.

The Coussoulis de Crau reserve, in the Carmague national park between Marseille and Nîmes, was flooded with 4,000 cubic metres of crude oil on Friday morning.

Ecology minister Chantal Jouanno said the damage from the accident could take up to a month to clear up. The Crau nature reserve is home to thousands of rare birds.

France has more than 50,000km of oil pipelines, many of which date back to the 1960s. Basic visual checks are carried out on the network every fortnight, but more in-depth checks are only made once every 10 years.

In an interview with Le Parisien Dimanche, Jouanno said a modernisation plan would be put in place by the end of November, including requirements for pipes to be thoroughly checked more often.

The section of pipeline that burst on Friday had not been thoroughly looked at in nine years.

She said she would call a meeting with manufacturers later this month to remind them of their duty to the environment.

Friday’s leak was in a pipe running from Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille, to Karlsruhe in Germany. It supplies oil to petrochemical plants in France, Germany and Switzerland.

Photo: marinephotobank