Tanks Spill Oil at Brazilian Port

Sun 4 Mar 2001 , SAO PAULO, Brazil
Tanks containing at least 156,000 gallons of fuel ruptured Sunday at a major Brazilian port, spilling an unknown amount of oil onto the ocean, a news report said.
The tanks were used to fuel ships docked at the Santos port on the Sao Paulo coast in southeastern Brazil, Globo news agency reported. It was not immediately clear how many tanks had leaks or how the accident happened.
Petrobras, Brazil's oil giant and the company responsible for the oil, set up emergency floating barriers around the port to keep the spill from spreading, the news agency said.

Petrobras was fined for a number of spills last year and a leak at one of its ducts last month reportedly stained the southeastern Parana Bay with some 300 gallons of diesel.

Sao Miguel, a Brazilian company that owned the tanks at the Santos port, was investigating whether human error had caused Sunday's spill.

Authorities could not be reached for comment late Sunday.