4m liters of crude spill into French nature reserve

There’s an irony behind every oil spill!

A fractured pipeline spills 4million liters of crude oil into French nature reserve

Four million liters of crude oil [4,000 cubic meters, or 25,160 barrels, weighing approximately 3,500 metric tons] has spewed from a fractured pipeline into a nature reserve adjacent to the Camargue national park, in southern France.

More than 2 hectares [5 acres] of Coussouls de Crau nature reserve is covered in crude oil. The reserve which is close to the town of Saint-Martin-de-Crau, in the south of France, was created in 2001 and is home to tens of thousands of birds. Photo: AFP (dated August 8, 2009). Image may be subject to copyright.

Owned by the usual gang of big polluters including France’s Total, U.S. giant ExxonMobil and Britain’s BP, the  pipeline was operated by the Societe du Pipeline Sud-Europeen (SPSE), which supplies oil refineries and a petrochemical plants in France, Germany and Switzerland.

The 40-year-old fractured underground pipe was a meter wide and buried 80 cm under the ground.

“This is a real ecological disaster,” junior environmental minister Chantal Jouanno told reporters after visiting the area in the far south of France. Reuters reported.

She held the pipeline operator, SPSE  responsible for the disaster, and added:  “We will have to draw the consequences for all the pipelines in France.”

Crude spill location map: Coussouls de Crau nature reserve, near the town of Saint-Martin-de-Crau, in  south of France. Map: Google. Original map may be subject to copyright.

The leak which occurred at about 8.30 am (06:30 UCT) has reportedly covered more than 2 hectares of the Coussouls de Crau nature reserve close to the town of Saint-Martin-de-Crau,  south of France.

“The site lies at the entrance to the Camargue park, a vast expanse of plains and marshland, famous for its wild horses and bulls, that [borders] the Mediterranean Sea.” Reuters reported.

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