Crude & Conflict [LLN, UL, & LLS-Only, IC/MT]

[District XIV]

Giliberaftan oil platform explodes.

It was August 6, 2014.

An oil platform owned and operated by a Giliberaftan oil giant exploded at 3:00 AM, spilling hundreds of millions of gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean. Every worker aboard the platform was killed, and the platform itself was near completely destructed.

Who's to blame?

The platform was placed fifty (50) miles off the coast of District XIV, well within the confines of their territory and not international waters. Therefore, Giliberaftan officials believe that the Fourtese government had something to do with the explosion; they claimed to have had all safety precautions in place, and no risk of spill was forseen. Tensions between the Fourtese and Giliberaftan governments had been elevating for some time, as both sides had been operating oil platforms in the others' oceanic territories for over two decades.

President Scott replying to a question at a public press
conference.

How did the two governments respond?

President Oliver Scott of District XIV claims this "was not of our fault" and "the Giliberaftan government is defaming us on the international scale." No rebuttal from the Giliberaftans has been heard yet; we are awaiting information.

[The United Regions]

To: District XIV and Giliberaftan goverments
From: Prime Minister David Bell
We would like to ensure that an investigation is launched before any further hostilities between your nations. And we think clean up of this oil spill should be top priority so we will be sending two clean up ships that will be using various means to clean up the oil to avoid a spread. We will also be sending a thirty man investigation team to be used at the discretion of your respective nations.

[Giliberafta]

Moments like this makes me want to shut down all the oil, coal, and natural gas industries in the country. Personally, I don't give a damn who was responsible for this mess. We barely use coal and oil in this nation as energy, and we extract a little from it just to make some money for the country. Now we got this damn spill in the damn ocean, and our damn politicians our playing the blame game. All I really want is some to clean up this mess, and I will decide with the memebrs of the United Parliament if we should keep the carbon fuel energy industry in our nation, or should we ban the such. Seeing that this is an environmental nation, I do no want to see these damn things in my nation again. So does the majority of the public. Solar and wind energy is a positive alternative, and we have saved so much money from it. We will, hopefully, stop extracting oil and of the such and instead sell our solar and wind energy. Is that possible, some may ask and yes it is.

-Prime Minister Randy Moss with his cabinet, making this statement before starting his cabinet meeting

[District XIV]

Addressed to Prime Minister David Bell of The United Regions

Hello, Prime Minister. Thank you for providing cleanup vessels to help assist in the eradication of the crude oil that now pollutes our ocean. Your efforts are much appreciated; we commend you for it. I'll order multiple of our domestic cleanup vessels to assist yours in the effort.

Sincerely,
Signed: Sarah Muir | Environment Minister, District XIV

Addressed to Prime Minister Randy Moss of Giliberafta,

Hello, good sir, how are you? The recent incident unfortunately incited anger between our two governments, and I apologize. Said incident was not caused by any Fourtese individual; I'm assuming it was a simple act of misguidance or accident occurring within the platform that caused the explosion.

My condolences go out to the families of the workers; we would be glad to provide compensation for their loss.

However, it's time we resolved this issue, together. I'm proposing a treaty that would outline the rules of maintaining oil platforms in another's territory. If you wish to pursue a treaty between our two states, please inquire further.

Thank you,
Signed: Oliver Scott | President, District XIV