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Tanker Runs Aground in Alaska, Spills Oil Products

Posted on: Thursday, 2 February 2006, 15:50 CST

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - An oil tanker carrying nearly 5 million gallons of oil and gasoline was struck by an ice floe and ran aground while loading oil products at an Alaska refinery on Thursday, causing a spill, a state official and the refining company said.

"At this time we do not have an estimate as to the amount of product released," refinery owner Tesoro Corp. said in a statement.

The Tesoro-chartered double-hulled tanker, the Seabulk Pride, was loading heavy vacuum gas oil and unleaded gasoline from the refinery in Nikiski, Alaska, on the Cook Inlet, the company said.

It said the ice floe parted the mooring line and sent the 600-foot (183-meter) tanker adrift before it went aground about half a mile north of the dock, and that the vessel's tanks were secure.

Ice conditions at the time of the accident were "extreme," with a lot of ice floating in the water, said Lynda Giguere of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The tanker is owned by Seabulk International Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seacor Holdings Inc.

Coast Guard Petty Office Thomas McKenzie, based in Juneau, said it was unclear whether other shipments in the area would be disrupted because of the grounding. The Coast Guard said there were no immediate reports of injury.

The tanker was carrying nearly 4 million gallons of Vacuum Tower Bottom Blend, a residual, asphalt-like oil that is not refined at Tesoro's Nikiski facility.

It was also carrying nearly a million gallons of bunker oil, gasoline, heavy vacuum gas oil and diesel fuel, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said.

Tesoro said its loading lines and docks were secure.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation sent two tugboats and a helicopter to the scene.

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker grounded on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, spilling about 11 million gallons (50 million liters) of crude oil.

Shares of Tesoro, based in San Antonio, Texas, fell $3.70 to $66.31 and Seacor Holdings' stock fell $2.25 to $71.19 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trade.

(Additional reporting by Randall Mikkelsen in Washington and Daisuke Wakabayashi in Seattle)

Source: REUTERS

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