Exxon Valdez headed for scrapyard

The ship formerly known as the Exxon Valdez, when an Alaskan oil spill made it notorious, has been sold to an Indian salvage company, the buyer said. Best Oasis Ltd., which buys ships to scrap them, selling as much of the material as possible, would not release the price, The Wall Street Journal reported. Gaurav Mehta, a Best Oasis executive, would also not say where the ship is. In its most recent incarnation, the Exxon Valdez was named the Oriental Nicety, its seventh name. Launched in 1986, the vessel was less than three years old when it hit a rock in Prince William Sound, causing one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history. Exxon, which agreed to a $900 million settlement in 1991, is still involved in lawsuits. Exxon and subsidiary companies continued to operate the ship under various names until 2008, when it was sold to a Chinese company and converted to an ore carrier. In 2010, it was involved in a collision in the South China Sea.