LONDON (Bloomberg) — BP Plc, Europe’s second-biggest oil company, will ban its traders from hiring single-hull tankers to ship gasoline, jet fuel and other refinery products from January 1.BP already has a policy of transporting crude oil on tankers with two layers of steel separating their cargoes from the ocean. The ban will be rolled out to refined oils from January 1, Pablo Urrutia, a spokesman for BP Shipping in Sunbury-on-Thames, said by phone yesterday.

The tanker industry is being overhauled after accidents in previous years killed wildlife and damaged ocean floors. Total SA, Europe’s biggest oil refiner, banned single-hull tankers after one of its vessels, the Erika, split and sank off France in 1999, polluting beaches in Brittany.

London-based BP last year identified a spill as the biggest potential threat to its finances and reputation.

A ban on single-hull oil tankers will be introduced from 2010. Single-hull oil tankers are being eliminated because they carry a greater risk of spillage in the event of an accident. They are normally cheaper to hire than those with two hulls. Double-hull tankers usually have more-powerful and reliable engines, making them safer in storms.

BP banned single-hull crude-oil tankers from January 1 this year, four years before International Maritime Organization rules come into force. BP’s ban on single-hull refined oil shipments starts on January 1.

The biggest owner of refined oil carriers is D/S Torm A/S, based in Hellerup, Denmark. The company, with a market value of $2.3 billion, only operates double-hull tankers.