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Suggested Citation: "Appendix E: Data on West Coast Lightering Operations and Incidents." National Research Council. 1998. Oil Spill Risks From Tank Vessel Lightering. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6312.

Appendix E Data on West Coast Lightering Operations and Incidents

TABLE E-1 Summary of Oil Spills, California, 1992 to 1997

	Terminals		Vessels^a
Year	Incidents	Quantity (gallons)	Incidents	Quantity (gallons)
1992	18	1,777	18	1,256
1993	20	1,088	16	479
1994	16	507	17	679
1995	20	228	28	3,158
1996	12	339	12	286
1997	9	163	9	461
Totals	95	4,102	100	6,319
Attributable to: Pipelines	11	3,009	V/L Ops.	4,266
^a 34 incidents occurred during bunkering and accounted for 1,783 gallons. The largest spills were 1,000 gallons during the bunkering of a warship and 1,974 gallons during the loading of a barge. Source: California State Lands Commission

TABLE E-2 Summary of Oil Spills, Washington State, 1992 to 1997

No spills on record during lighterings.

Recent spill data indicates that approximately:

75 percent was from vessels
18 percent was from shore facilities
7 percent was from pipelines

Causes:

56 percent organization/management deficiencies
20 percent equipment failures
24 percent human error

There are no indications or records of any spills as a result of lighterings

Source: Washington Department of Ecology

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TABLE E-3 Chevron, Summary of Lightering, West Coast

		Lightering	Quantity of Oil	Spills (gallons)
Offshore
San Clemente	1970–1979	250	75,000,000 Bbls.	0
Pacific Area Lightering	1996–1997	22	40,000,000 Bbls.	0
Inshore
L.A. Harbor	1980 to date	70	17,000,000 Bbls.	0
San Francisco Bay	1992–1997	57	8,000,000 Bbls.	0
Totals		399	140,000,000 Bbls.	0
Source: Chevron Shipping Co.

TABLE E-4 British Petroleum, Summary of Lightering, West Coast, 1987–1997

	Lightering	Quantity of Oil	Spills (gallons)
Long Beach Harbor	98	34,855,585 Bbls.	5
San Francisco Bay	14	1,420,004 Bbls.	0
Puget Sound	159	27,241,360 Bbls.	0
Totals	271	63,000,000 Bbls.	0
Note: One spill (not related to lightering) was caused by a fracture in the bottom hull plate of a barge. Source: British Petroleum

TABLE E-5 Exxon, Summary of Lightering, West Coast, San Francisco Harbor, 1992–1997

Year	Lightering	Quantity of Oil	Spills (gallons)
1991	187	40,765,767 Bbls.	0
1992	190	44,341,669 Bbls.	0
1993	187	42,298,141 Bbls.	0
1994	182	42,752,591 Bbls.	0
1995	189	44,825,615 Bbls.	0
1996	178	43,251,976 Bbls.	0
1997	103	23,269,520 Bbls.	0
Totals	1216	281,505,279 Bbls.	0
Source: Exxon

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TABLE E-6 Summary of West Coast Lightering

	Lightering	Quantity of Oil
Exxon	1,212	281,500,000 Bbls.
British Petroleum	271	63,000,000 Bbls.
Chevron	399	140,000,000 Bbls.
Totals	1,882	484,500,000 Bbls.
Note: Total of 5 gallons was spilled due to a hull crack in a barge.

TABLE E-7 Chevron's Overall Lightering Experience, 1970 to 1997

	Barrels Lightered	Lighterings	Spills (barrels)
Pascagoula	1,700,000,000	4,550	10
Other U.S. Gulf	120,000,000	360
Pacific Area Lightering (1996–1997)	30,000,000	32
Other West Coast	100,000,000	380
Totals	1,950,000,000	5,322	10

Figure E-1

San Francisco Bay lightering, 1997.

Oil Spill Risks From Tank Vessel Lightering (1998)

Chapter: Appendix E: Data on West Coast Lightering Operations and Incidents

Appendix E Data on West Coast Lightering Operations and Incidents

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Oil Spill Risks From Tank Vessel Lightering (1998)

Chapter: Appendix E: Data on West Coast Lightering Operations and Incidents

Appendix E Data on West Coast Lightering Operations and Incidents