Valdez, Alaska The original town site was dismantled and abandoned. From 1975 to 1977, the Trans-Alaska pipeline was built to carry oil from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields in northern Alaska to a terminal in Valdez, the nearest ice-free port. Oil is loaded onto tanker ships for transport. The construction and operation of the pipeline and terminal boosted the economy of Valdez. The 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill occurred as the oil tanker "Exxon Valdez" was leaving the terminal at Valdez full of oil. The spill occurred at Bligh Reef, about from Valdez. Although the oil did not reach Valdez, it devastated
SS Tuxpam (Mexican oil tanker) SS Tuxpam (Mexican oil tanker) The SS "Tuxpam" was an oil tanker, in the service of Petroleos Mexicanos, that was sunk on 27 June 1942 by U-129. She was completed in November 1903 as SS "Prometheus" for Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum GmbH, Hamburg. In 1914 she was laid up at New York City and, in December of that year, sold and renamed SS "Cushing" for Standard Oil of New Jersey, Bayonne. In September 1918, she was requisitioned by the US Navy as "USS Chinampa (SP-1952)" for the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and returned to her owners in May 1919. In 1924 she