Oil reserves are the best sources of income for any country. Super powers are capturing Oil reserves in order to generate economy and wealth for its country. Philosophers predict that next World War will be fought for the oil reserves. God has enriched our earth with precious and unimaginable treasure of resources but the human consumption has exceeded the present resources and it is stated that oil will be depleted sooner and therefore researches have been made to find new sources of fuel and consequently generate economy. The oil spills have served a great in the oil depletion.
10. The MT Haven, Italy, 1991 – 45 million gallons
The MT haven was 2nd in the race after a similar ship sank into the ocean. The said ship was launched in the year 1973 and was meant to transport crude oil from Middle East gulf regions to various other countries. During the war between Iran and Iraq, a missile struck the ship and it got damaged following then the ship was sent to Singapore for repair maintenance. After the repair the ship was sold and it worked great for quite long time. It travelled and completed many voyages successfully. But on April 11.1991 the ship was loaded with 230,000 tons at a platform a few miles from Genoa, Italy, unloading started and about 80,000 tons of capacity from the ship unloaded a blast took place, the flames were so high that it reached about 100 meters of height another explosion occurred and huge amount of oil diffused into the sea. The blasts killed six people and ship wreck provided a great disaster to the economy. Attempts were remove the oil from the ship but all efforts went in vain. The ship sank after burning into flames a whole day and the oil continued to leak for 12 years. The owner blamed the repair company for the loss.
9. ABT Summer, Angola, 1991 – 51 million gallons
The ABT Summer was an oil tanker having the duty to trade oil from Iran to various other countries. In the year 1991 the tanker was on her routine duty, was on its way from Iran to Rotterdam carrying 260,000 tons of oil suddenly burst into flames and oil started to escape into the water. The worst part happened when oil itself caught fire; the tanker was on flames for the whole 3 days and then it sank. There is no evidence of how much oil was burned and how much sank into the water but 5 out of 32 crew members died in the explosion. Attempts were made to recover the ship and its parts to observe the cause of failure but all efforts were in vain. The high tidal movement of sea prevented the oil from damaging the environment and natural habitat of sea.
8. The Amoco Cadiz, France, 1978 – 69 million gallons
The Amoco Cadiz was a very large crude oil carrier it was sent from Persian Gulf to Rotterdam. The ship gave a break to her voyage in Great Britain; during her stop the carrier ship experienced heavy tides and unstable weather conditions. The following morning a heavy wave crashed into the ship’s rudder damaging it brutally. Attempts were made to repair the ship but things went worse from poor and attempts failed to fix the damage and save the ship from sinking. The late response from German tug tried to attach a tow line with the ship so that they could bring the ship closer to shore, but they failed to attach it and all the efforts to stop the drifting of the ship proved unsuccessful. In the mean time the Amoco Cadiz dropped its anchor but the waves and wind were too strong to be handled by an anchor. In the evening, the water breached into the ship and flooded the main deck causing the engines to fail and allowing the oil to escape out. The ship sank into the sea by the next morning and 69 million gallons of oil was lost into the deep sea. No one died in this accident but the oil contaminated the 76 beaches and spread all along the 200 mile coastline.
