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Oil spilled at east Texas port as ships collide

24 January 2010 02:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. As much as 450,000 gallons of crude oil may have spilled in a southeast Texas port when two vessels collided Saturday morning, but it’s unclear whether that much actually leaked from the damaged tank, a U.S. Coast Guard official said.

According to APA citing â€œAssociated Pressâ€, no one was injured in the collision, but part of the Port of Port Arthur was closed and some nearby residents evacuated.

According to Petty Officer Richard Brahm, the ship’s crew members said they pumped 69,000 barrels from the damaged tank that carried 80,000 barrels, so they have 11,000 barrels â€” about 450,000 gallons â€” that they can’t account for.

Several local officials said only 1,000 barrels, or about 42,000 gallons, of oil had been spilled into the water.

The damaged tanker, the Eagle Atome, is owned by AET Tankers, according to the Houston Chronicle. AET is a Malaysian company with offices in Houston.
The Port Arthur spill is much smaller than the 11 million gallons spilled in Prince William Sound when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989.

One of the worst shipping accidents in the area was the June 1990 spill from the Norwegian tanker Mega Borg. It leaked 4.3 million gallons of crude oil about 60 miles off Galveston.