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Diving Excursion

Diving on Thursday 18 May will take place on the Amoco Cadiz wreck, at a depth of 20 to 30 m.

The Amoco Cadiz was a VLCC (very large crude carrier; 334 m long) owned by Amoco Transport Corp and carrying crude oil for Shell Oil. Operating under a Liberian flag of convenience, it ran aground on 16 March 1978 on the rocks of Portsall, 2 km off the coast of Brittany, France. It eventually split in three and sank, causing the largest oil spill in history at that time.

Amoco Cadiz contained 1,604,500 barrels (219,797 tons) of light crude oil from Saudi Arabia and Iran. Severe weather resulted in the complete breakup of the ship before any oil could be pumped out of the wreck, resulting in her entire cargo of crude oil (belonging to Shell) and 4,000 tons of fuel oil being spilled into the sea. The US NOAA estimates that the total oil spill amounted to 220,880 metric tonnes of oil.

In 1988 a U.S. federal judge ordered Amoco Oil Corporation to pay $85.2 million in fines; $45 million for the costs of the spill and $39 million in interest. In 1992, Amoco agreed to pay $230 million.
 
 plongée amoco 2
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