Word: crudely
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...gash in the hull of a supertanker off the northwest African coast, igniting a fire that forces the crew to abandon ship. For nearly two weeks, the leaking, foundering vessel is left to drift toward the rich fishing grounds and unspoiled beaches of Morocco. Some 19 million gal. of crude oil ooze into the sea, nearly twice the amount disgorged by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska last March. A replay of grim images -- gooey, blackened shorelines and oil-soaked animal corpses -- appears inevitable...
...miles off the Moroccan coast. Though the spill from the Iranian supertanker Khark 5 is the 16th largest in history, its eventual impact on the environment and Morocco's economy may be relatively mild. But until the oil is completely dispersed, changes in the weather may yet push the crude onto the shore. That possibility was keeping Moroccans on edge. "We are at the mercy of the winds," said Abdelkader Benothman, police chief of coastal Oualidia...
Last week British, Spanish and French spill experts were on hand to help, but little could be done. Although 40% of the Iranian light crude had evaporated, the remainder was harder to dispel. Chemical dispersants, sprayed in limited quantities early in the week to break down the crude and make it sink, were effective for only a few days, until the oil emulsified, or mixed and bonded with seawater. Closer to shore, crews floated booms to protect oyster beds against the oil patch, which at one point came to within twelve miles...
While the great cold stimulated heating demand, there were significant crimps in supply. U.S. production was severely impaired when a Dec. 24 explosion damaged the second largest refinery in the country, an Exxon plant in Baton Rouge, La., that normally processes 455,000 bbl. of crude a day. The accident, probably caused by a spark that ignited hydrocarbons released from a pipe, killed two workers and injured seven others. Company officials announced that the facility will partly reopen this week. Other installations also suffered shutdowns: Shell Oil closed two gasoline refineries in Texas and Louisiana and curtailed operations...