Bill Allen (businessman) Barbados as well. VECO also was a worldwide player in the oil industry, having divisions in many major oil markets, including the Sudan, Russia, Mexico, Venezuela and Syria. VECO had a major impact on the economy of Alaska and employed over 5,000 people worldwide. On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, spilling eleven million gallons of crude oil into the waters of Prince William Sound. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was the second largest in United States history, after the BP Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon spill. Under Allen's guidance, VECO (along with
Amoco Cadiz oil spill Amoco Cadiz oil spill The oil tanker "Amoco Cadiz" ran aground on Portsall Rocks, from the coast of Brittany, France, on 16 March 1978, and ultimately split in three and sank, all together resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date. NOAA estimates that the total oil spill amounted to 220,880 metric tonnes of oil. En route from the Persian Gulf to Rotterdam, Netherlands, via a scheduled stop at Lyme Bay, Great Britain, the ship encountered stormy weather with gale conditions and high seas while in the English Channel. At around 09:45, a heavy