Tugs take ExxonMobil oil tanker in tow

Ship loses power as it departs Prince William Sound with Alaska crude; Sen. Murkowski says incident proves need for dual escorts

Wesley Loy

For Petroleum News

Two escort tugs took an oil-laden tanker under tow in Alaska’s Prince William Sound on Jan. 17 after the ship experienced a power loss following what the operator said was an electrical problem.

Authorities soon allowed the ship to continue its voyage to San Francisco, clearing it to depart the Sound the next day.

The double-hulled tanker Kodiak is operated by Houston-based SeaRiver Maritime Inc., which carries Alaska North Slope crude for ExxonMobil.

Two Crowley-operated tugs, the Aware and the Tan’erliq, were escorting the tanker and came to its assistance, reported the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, a Valdez-based oil industry watchdog group.

The 869-foot tanker was carrying 610,000 barrels of crude and was outbound at Hinchinbrook Entrance, where the Sound opens into the North Pacific Ocean, when the tanker crew noted “what proved to be an overheating of an electrical component of a turbo generator,” SeaRiver spokesman Ray Botto said in a written statement.

The problem developed just before 3 a.m.

“There was no fire. There were no injuries or pollution,” Botto said.

Botto told Petroleum News by phone the turbo generator draws steam off the main engine to make electric power. As the ship switched over to another generator, the steam plant that drives the tanker lost power, not unlike what happens when you turn off a boiling kettle, Botto said.

The crew opted for a tow “as a precaution,” he said.

Both tugs were able to quickly attach tow lines to the tanker and move it to Knowles Head, a safe anchorage well inside the Sound.

After a U.S. Coast Guard inspection, the tanker was cleared to depart at 8 a.m. Jan. 18.

Joel Kennedy, maritime operations project manager for the RCAC, said in a written update that SeaRiver informed him the ship was without propulsion for about 30 minutes.

RCAC spokesman Stan Jones said his organization was pleased to see the escort tugs were there and performed well.

“It was exactly what they were invented to do,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the incident provides impetus for legislation the Alaska congressional delegation is pushing to mandate dual tug escorts for double-hulled tankers, and not just single-hulled ships as the law now specifies.

In recent years the tanker fleet has been transformed, with virtually every ship in the Alaska trade now equipped with a double hull to reduce chances of a major spill.

Murkowski said that “even though it is rare for a tanker to lose power, this is not the first time it has happened and it won’t be the last. We must maintain the present escort system indefinitely.”

While the other major North Slope oil producers, ConocoPhillips and BP, chose to build new fleets of tankers to meet the double-hulled standard imposed after the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989, ExxonMobil went with legacy ships to replace its single-hull tankers.

Built in 1978, the Kodiak formerly was named the Tonsina and was part of a fleet hauling Alaska oil for BP. ExxonMobil acquired the ship in 2005, re-christened it the Kodiak, and refurbished it in a Singapore shipyard.

ExxonMobil also acquired another tanker from the BP fleet, the Kenai. It, too, was refurbished and given a new name, the Sierra.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with those ships,” Anil Mathur, who runs BP’s shipping affiliate, said in 2005.

The Kodiak will be checked out further, Botto said, though he couldn’t say in what port.