Citgo's required payout for the 2004 Athos I oil spill has gone up by close to $10m, bringing the total owed the US and Tsakos Shipping and Trading to $168.2m.
Citgo Asphalt Refining Co (Carco) must pay $88m and another $9.2m in interest to the government, which had reimbursed Tsakos for oil cleanup costs.
After a 1,900-mile journey from Venezuela to Paulsboro, New Jersey, the 60,900-dwt Athos I (built 1983, scrapped 2008) in late November 2004 struck an abandoned anchor on the bottom of the Delaware River.
The nine-ton mudhook had been abandoned in a federal anchorage near the Carco facility in Paulsboro.
The anchor pierced the vessel's hull, causing approximately 264,000 gallons of crude oil to spill into the river, resulting in a $143m cleanup cost paid by Tsakos.
The US government reimbursed Tsakos the $88m in accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, according to court documents filed in US district court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.
The court in late August 2016, however, awarded only $44m plus $4.6m in interest to the government, which appealed the decision in Philadelphia's Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
In late March of this year, the appeals court reinstated the full $88m award, determining the district court "erred" in cutting the US judgment by half, court documents state.
This week, the district court stipulated that Citgo pay the government the $88m plus $9.2m in prejudgment interest, calculated at $700 a day since the late August 2016 judgment.
The court also awarded $55m to Tsakos two years ago for the remainder of the cleanup costs plus another $16.2m in prejudgment interest.
Citgo has until late August to appeal both decisions to the US Supreme Court but is liable for post-judgment costs of $700 a day for every day it does not pay the full $168m.
Sources close to the case say that Citgo plans to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court.
Lawyers for both sides declined to comment.
