Barge en route to transfer oil from tanker aground in New York: Port

The tanker Stena Primorsk hauling crude oil sits anchored in the Hudson River after loosing its steering and running aground south of Albany, New York December 20, 2012.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil trapped in a tanker that ran aground on the Hudson River near Albany, New York will be transferred to a barge on Friday night, the Port of Albany said.

The Stena Primorsk, a 600-foot (182-metre) motor tanker, was carrying 11.7 million gallons (under 280,000 barrels) of light crude oil when it lost steering control on Thursday morning and hit land near Stuyvesant, New York, about 20 miles downriver from Albany, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The light crude oil on the tanker was from the Bakken shale in North Dakota destined for Irving Oil Ltd's 300,000 barrel-per-day Saint John, New Brunswick refinery in Canada, Richard Hendrick, general manager of the Port of Albany said. This was the first such shipment out of the Albany port.

A smaller barge and tug unit is en route to the site of the accident after it left Brooklyn, New York early on Friday, Hendrick said. The barge is expected to arrive around 5:00 PM EST (2200 GMT) Friday, he added.

The U.S. Coast Guard said no pollution was reported related to the incident.

(Reporting by Selam Gebrekidan;editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)