Declining prices of foodstuffs con­tributed to a major setback in Unilev­er's after-tax profits. Compounding the problem is the fact that Unilever stocked up on raw material supplies late last year when prices were at a peak. However, notes Unilever man­agement, "the rest of our business in Europe also made a bad start to the year. Sales of detergents declined in volume partly because of a lower level

Whenever the threat of oil spills is discussed, apprehension is apt to focus on supertankers or offshore drilling rigs. But in Japan the worst oil pollu­tion case on record had an unexpected source: failure of a storage tank at a harborside refinery. The accident last December released some 270,000 bbl of heavy fuel oil into the compounds of Mitsubishi Oil Co.'s Mizushima refin­ery. About one fifth of the spilled oil poured into Mizushima harbor and within a week had spread over a sub­stantial portion of Japan's Seto Inland Sea.

The spill's financial dimensions are only now becoming clear, with Mitsu­bishi Oil's release of half-year business results through March. The firm paid out compensation totaling $66 million during the period for damage resulting from marine pollution. The continuing shutdown of the 270,000 bbl-per-day Mizushima refinery accounted for much of the $20 million the company recorded in current losses. (Mitsubishi Oil, in which Getty Oil holds 50% in­terest, also operates a 105,000 bbl-per-day refinery at Kawasaki, on Tokyo Bay.)

The physical dimensions of a spill of 54,000 bbl of Bunker C oil into coastal waters were apparent much earlier. The Mizushima refinery is part of a major industrial complex at Kurashiki, on the south coast of Japan's main island of Honshu. Its harbor opens into the narrow inland sea—about 250 miles long and 35 miles at its widest point —that separates Honshu from the two large southern islands of Shikoku and Kyushu. When fuel oil began pouring into Mizushima port, oil fences were set up to confine the spill to the har­bor. But choppy waters and the great quantity of oil released, notes an inter­im report of Japan's Environment Agency, defeated the fences. Within a week the slick had spread across much of the eastern half of the inland sea.

The cleanup effort also was massive —-fleets of fishing boats and Maritime Safety Agency patrol ships tried mop­ping up the oil with absorbing materi­als and, as the oil began turning into sludge, with nets and ladles. Initially, the Maritime Safety Agency also used neutralizing agents against the oil at sea. The agency called off that ap­proach after protests from fishermen who feared secondary contamination

of consumer demand. Chemicals, paper, plastics, and packaging also were affected by the general recession in these industries."

Like Unilever's, Imperial Chemical Industries' first-quarter sales were ahead of the level 12 months earlier. Like Unilever, too, after-tax income dropped, primarily because of slack de­mand for fibers and plastics.

DermotA. O'Sullivan, C&EN London

by the neutralizing chemicals. On the beaches, the Ground Defense Force (Japan's cautiously named army) was called out to help remove polluted shingle.

This response wasn't triggered by es­thetics alone, although the island-dot­ted inland sea is considered one of Ja­pan's most scenic regions and is desig­nated a national park. It's also a prime domestic fishing ground. And edible seaweed, another favorite item of the Japanese diet, is intensively cultivated

in shallow waters along its shores. At the same time that the oil cleanup was proceeding, fishermen and seaweed farmers made efforts for quick removal of contaminated fish and plants to minimize later, secondary seepage of oil from polluted remains.

Offsetting the damage to these re­sources is the main object of Mitsu­bishi Oil's compensation payments. Set­tlement talks began after the firm's general acknowledgment of responsibil­ity early in January. Vice president Moody Covey in Tokyo thinks the company now has paid the bulk of the bill. "We've settled with the four pre-fectural cooperatives" (fishermen's as­sociations in the four prefectures af­fected by the spill), says Covey. "Now we're negotiating with some small groups in the Kojima area—about 1300 fishermen in all."

But the Environment Agency notes that long-term effects of the spill are still unknown. They could be signifi­

cant, says the agency, since there is relatively little flow of water into or out of the inland sea, which is some­times described as one large harbor. Accordingly, the agency is organizing a continuing survey of contamination levels in water and bottom deposits, changes in seaweed growth, and effects of ingested fuel oil and neutralizing agents on surviving fish. Compensation demands may increase, the agency adds, as a clearer picture emerges of the scope and persistency of contami­nation.

Mitsubishi Oil, meanwhile, cleaned up its own refinery, which had taken most of the spill. A safety-check oper­ating program got under way in April and was expected to be completed late last month. Return to commercial op­eration awaits local and national gov­ernment approval. A government-ap­pointed commission is investigating the failure of the tank. Completed only a year before the accident, the 170-foot-diameter by 79-foot-high tank was one of the refinery's largest. On the night of the accident, oil spurting

from cracks near the base carried with it a steel inspection stairway that struck and breached the containment dike surrounding several tanks in the area. The ruptured tank was empty by the following noon. Early hypotheses as to the cause of rupture included poor welding and overstressing due to une­ven subsidence of the tank foundations.

The latter theory generated a new wave of concern, because many of Ja­pan's storage tank farms are sited on filled land adjacent to seaside refin­eries. The Home Affairs Ministry's Fire Defense Agency ordered an inspection of tank subsidence by local authorities at all Japanese refineries and oil termi­nals. The survey has turned up more than 100 tanks in the size category of 10,000 kiloliters (about 63,000 bbl) or larger that were beyond the agency's recommended 0.5% of diameter limit for uneven subsidence. A number were ordered emptied for inspections.

Michael K. McAbee, C&EN Tokyo

Japanese oil spill has wide repercussions

Spil'-d oil spread some 70 miles within a week

June 2, 1975 C&EN 13

Second da)

Third day

Sixth day

Shodoshima _ Island J

Mizushima

Takamatsu

Awajishima Island

Naruto

Inland Sea

Honshu

Hokkaido

Kyushu Shikoku

10 Miles