Campaigning for the French Presidential election officially kicks off but candidates are not allowed to insult each other and they must each have equal air time under French law. Next, France's top court may overturn a verdict against oil giant Total for a devastating spill off the coast of Brittany. Finally, move over Mona Lisa… Cinderella steals the limelight as Disneyland Paris becomes Europe's top tourist destination.
France's highest court might annul a verdict against French energy giant Total over a giant 1999 oil spill off the Brittany coast, according to a legal source. The court may toss the case based on the claim that the boat was not in French waters.
French energy giant Total on Wednesday was preparing to launch a miniature submarine to inspect a massive gas leak at an oil rig in the North Sea, some 240 kilometres off the eastern coast of Scotland.
Plumes of highly flammable natural gas continued to seep out of Total's Elgin platform in the North Sea Tuesday, as the French energy giant warned it could take up to six months to stem the leak.
French oil company Total said it would proceed with new drilling off the coast of Angola, despite the International Energy Agency's warning that the BP Gulf of Mexico spill had left deep-water oil exploration on a "knife edge".
French oil giant Total was set to reopen its Dunkirk refinery in northern France on Monday, but the long-term future of the site remained unclear. A decision to shut the plant sparked nationwide strikes earlier this year.
Following the adoption of tighter economic sanctions against Iran by the United States, the French oil group Total announced Monday that it has halted the shipment of petrol and other refined oil products to Tehran, which lacks refinery capacity.
France’s Total oil confirmed on Tuesday that it was under investigation for bribery in connection with the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime, one of thousands of firms who allegedly paid to secure Iraqi oil contracts.
The Paris court of appeals on Tuesday confirmed the conviction and fine of 375,000 euros imposed on Total in a 2008 ruling that found the oil giant guilty of negligence for a 1999 oil spill off the coast of Brittany.
At the 5th Forum for Investment in Qatar, held in Paris on March 25 and 26, Raphael Kahane talks to Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total, France's largest company and Europe's 3rd biggest oil producer. He announces Total's latest deal with Qatar, signed during the meeting.
