25-01-00 TotalFina's costs arising from oil spill off the Brittany coast have risen to more than FF 800 mm ($ 122.9 mm), French daily Le Monde quoted company chairman Thierry Desmarest as saying. The increased costs result from a new commitment by the oil major to pay for the storage and treatment of contaminated sand taken from beaches polluted by the oil which leaked from the TotalFina-chartered Erika tanker.

The company is to "tighten up" its policy on chartering older tankers, in the light of the disaster, cutting to 20 years from 25 years the upper age limit on chartered vessels of 80,000 dwt and above. The limit stays at 25 years for smaller ships, so the measures would not have prevented the Erika (37,283 dwt) from being chartered.