Shipping companies will pay nearly $97 million to settle a lawsuit with a pipeline operator over a 2021 oil spill off the coast of Southern California, the pipeline company said Wednesday.
Amplify Energy, the Houston-based company that operates the pipeline, said in a statement that companies associated with the M/V Danit and M/V Beijing agreed to the payments. Amplify accused the vessels of dragging anchors in the waters off California and striking the pipeline during a January 2021 storm, which months later led to the spill of 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean.
