Amoco Cadiz oil spill
| Amoco Cadiz oil spill | |
|---|---|
Amoco Cadiz sinking near the coast of Brittany | |
Interactive map of Amoco Cadiz oil spill | |
| Location | Portsall, Brittany, France |
| Date | March 16, 1978 |
| Cause | |
| Cause | Sinking of the Amoco Cadiz oil tanker |
| Operator | Amoco |
| Spill characteristics | |
| Volume | 256,200 m3 (or 220,800 metric tons) |
| Shoreline impacted | 200 km (120 mi) |
The Amoco Cadiz oil spill took place on 16 March 1978, when the oil tanker Amoco Cadiz, owned by the American petroleum company Amoco, ran aground on Portsall Rocks, 2 km (1.2 mi) from the coast of Brittany, France. The vessel ultimately split in three and sank. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that the total oil spill amounted to 220,880 tonnes of oil which amounts to over 58 million gallons or 256.2 million litres, making it the largest oil spill of its kind at the time.