Prosecutors in an oil spill case dating back ten years are to seek a maximum fine against the company Total, as the oil giant began its appeal in a French court yesterday.

Total are challenging a 2007 decision to fine them E375,000 for a massive oil spill along the Brittany coast in 1999. They were also ordered to pay E200 million in damages.

15 companies and individual defendants are charged with negligence in connection with the so-called Malta-flagged “Erika” disaster.

The oil tanker was carrying 20,000 tonnes when it hit bad weather and sank in the Bay of Biscay. It released its crude cargo into the sea, coating 400 kilometres of the French coast with oil and killing thousands of birds.