About 50 gallons of intermediate fuel oil spilled while a Canadian-flagged barge was being refueled, he said.

The freighter, loaded with soybeans on a voyage from Tacoma to China, was carrying about 424,000 gallons of heavy intermediate fuel oil and 18,000 gallons of diesel.

The captain of the tanker suspected that 3,000-to-4,000 metric tons of intermediate fuel oil (persistent, thick oil that won't evaporate by itself) had spilled into the ocean.

The barge carried as much as 35,000 barrels of fuel oil, Tobago officials have said. The ship sailed from Panama and it was bound for Guyana, officials have said.

The captain of the tanker suspected that 3,000-to-4,000 metric tonnes of intermediate fuel oil (persistent, thick oil that won’t evaporate by itself) had spilled into the ocean.