Prestige payments limited

The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund has said that the level of payment of compensation in the ‘Prestige’ oil spill incident will be limited, temporarily, to 15% of total losses incurred. This is reported to be because the Fund only has €171.5mn. Around €25mn of this is from the London P&I Club, the shipowner’s liability insurer. The move has angered the French, with the environment minister appearing on French television to condemn the move by the Fund, calling it premature.