Word: tankerous
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...crew members ran for the lifeboats, the flames ignited the cargo, which had begun to spill into the sea. For most of the day, the tanker burned, sending thick coils of black smoke rolling hundreds of feet into the air and bathing the area in an eerie orangish glow. Strong westerly winds blew a 75-mile-long cloud of choking smog toward shore, depositing thick black goo on houses and cars and coating newly shorn sheep with an oily film. Up to 25 miles inland, farmers reported an "oily rain" falling on their crops...
...series of explosions tore the abandoned 1,000-ft.-long tanker in half, spraying burning oil for hundreds of yards in a vast arc around the wreckage. Caught in the curtain of fire that rose from the growing oil slick, the aft section, containing about 100,000 tons of crude, quickly sank. Supported by a pocket of air, the bow section remained afloat vertically, like a six-story-high buoy, with an estimated 40,000 tons of oil still trapped in its tanks...
...spill began in late January, when a storm toppled a rig in Iran's Nowruz oil field at the northern tip of the gulf. The well had already been damaged two years ago, when a tanker rammed the platform, causing almost 2,000 bbl. a day to pour into the sea. In March, Iraqi helicopter gunships bombed at least two other wells in the same oil field. Those wells began leaking up to 5,000 additional...
...that is exposed to the high tax rate and pay the corporate rate, no more than 46%, instead. Critics contend that Arco does this by inflating its transportation costs. The company charges itself a high freight rate of about $4 per bbl. on oil it ships in its own tankers. The fee includes a so-called risk premium that is supposed to compensate independent tanker owners against the times when their ships are idle. Since Arco owns the ships and keeps them busy virtually year-round, such risks are obviously minimal...
Arco energetically denies that it is sheltering windfall profits in its transportation operation. Says George Babikian, senior vice president for marketing: "That is patently false." He asserts that it is "common practice" to classify tanker shipments from Alaska as foreign activity. As for the risk premium, he says, "Sure, we own the boat. We invested money to buy the boat, and we are entitled to a return on our investment...