Following the failure of the shipowner to take action and to prevent any further risk of pollution along the coast, we promptly offered our offshore expertise to the public authorities to pump out the cargo trapped in both sections of the Erika wreckage, which were lying in 120 meters of water.

On January 26, 2000, Total and the General Secretary for the Sea signed a memorandum of understanding, and the solution chosen for the pumping operation was ratified by the French Transportation Ministry in late February 2000.

The pumping operations cost €72 million and took place in July and August 2000. They involved seven ocean-going vessels and 300 people on and offshore. On September 6, a discharge was signed by Total and government representatives on completion of the pumping operation, attesting to the fact that we had fulfilled our second Erika-related commitment.