Introduction

9 September 2004 - San Francisco: A Shell Oil-contracted dredging vessel spilled as much as 200 tons of heavy fuel oil and diesel after running aground near Russia's Sakhalin Island during a typhoon. The incident occurred about 9:40pm September 8, Sakhalin time. According to a press release from the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (a consortium led by Shell, and including Mitsubishi, and Mitsui), oil spill response crews only arrived on September 9 at 7:00 a.m., 9 hours later. High seas and heavy winds are currently hampering clean up efforts. Local and international ...