Exxon Valdez punitive damages to the Supreme Court which capped the damages to US $507.5 million in June, 2008. On August 27, 2008, Exxon Mobil agreed to pay 75% of the US $507.5 million damages ruling to settle the 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill off Alaska. In June 2009, a federal ruling ordered Exxon to pay an additional US$480 million in interest on their delayed punitive damage awards. After repairs, "Exxon Valdez" was renamed "Exxon Mediterranean", then "SeaRiver Mediterranean" in the early 1990s, when Exxon transferred their shipping business to a new subsidiary company, River Maritime Inc. The name was later shortened
Oil tanker instrument, Shell consulted the "London Tanker Brokers’ Panel (LTBP)". At first, they divided the groups as "General Purpose" for tankers under ; "Medium Range" for ships between 25,000 and and "Large Range" for the then-enormous ships that were larger than . The ships became larger during the 1970s, which prompted rescaling. The system was developed for tax reasons as the tax authorities wanted evidence that the internal billing records were correct. Before the New York Mercantile Exchange started trading crude oil futures in 1983, it was difficult to determine the exact price of oil, which could change with every contract.