Justices Rule Against Refiner in $143 Million Oil Spill Case

An oil refining company is on the hook for a shipping accident that spilled 6,000 barrels of crude in the Delaware River, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.

CITGO Asphalt Refining Co. should have ensured the safe arrival of the Athos I, a tanker it chartered to deliver crude from Venezuela to the company’s refinery near Philadelphia, the justices ruled.

Because it failed to do that, the 7-2 opinion says, CITGO must cover cleanup costs that shipowner Frescati Shipping Co. paid after the tanker struck an abandoned anchor near the refinery and gushed crude into the river in 2004. ...