Exxon Valdez oil spill After 20 years, there is no evidence suggesting that either cleanup workers or the residents of the communities affected by the Valdez spill have had any adverse health effects as a result of the spill or its cleanup. In 1992, Exxon released a video titled "Scientists and the Alaska Oil Spill", to be distributed to schools. Dr. Michael Fry called it a piece of "corporate propaganda". In December 1994, the Unabomber assassinated Burson-Marsteller executive Thomas Mosser, accusing him of having "helped Exxon clean up its public image after the "Exxon Valdez" incident". The PR company claimed not to have been
Oil tanker crude carriers (ULCC) built in the 1970s were over long and had a capacity of . Several factors encouraged this growth. Hostilities in the Middle East which interrupted traffic through the Suez Canal contributed, as did nationalization of Middle East oil refineries. Fierce competition among shipowners also played a part. But apart from these considerations is a simple economic advantage: the larger an oil tanker is, the more cheaply it can move crude oil, and the better it can help meet growing demands for oil. In 1955 the world's largest supertanker was and : SS "Spyros Niarchos" launched that year