Exxon Valdez oil spill the claim, stating that there was a long-standing agreement to allow the use of dispersants to clean up spills, thus Exxon did not require permission to use them, and that in fact Exxon had not had enough dispersant on hand to effectively handle a spill of the size created by the "Valdez". Exxon filed claims in October 1990 against the Coast Guard, asking to be reimbursed for cleanup costs and damages awarded to plaintiffs in any lawsuits filed by the State of Alaska or the federal government against Exxon. The company claimed that the Coast Guard was "wholly or partially
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.