The city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit Thursday against Exxon Mobil Corp., claiming the oil giant has failed to clean up petroleum contamination from a marine fuel storage terminal near Aquatic Park that closed more than a decade ago.

The suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, demands that Exxon Mobil remove gasoline and other petroleum products that remain in the soil and groundwater on the property and stop the small amounts of oil that are seeping into San Francisco Bay - all remnants of three tanks that fed a fueling station at Pier 49.

According to the city attorney's office, a 2006 Exxon Mobil report shows that 3,884 gallons of petroleum and 210,000 pounds of tar were found in the soil and groundwater near the site of the former fuel tanks at 440 Jefferson St., which is Port of San Francisco property.

The suit alleges that Mobil Oil signed an agreement with the city in 1994 to complete an investigation of the area and to clean it up. In 2003, the suit claims, city engineers preparing to demolish a nearby wharf found petroleum that they believed was related to the fuel facility.

Last year, the city discovered petroleum seepage in the bay near the demolished wharf, the suit claims, despite orders from regulators that Exxon Mobil complete its remediation work.

The city attorney's office says Exxon Mobil has the resources to complete the cleanup but is stalling.

"After years of broken promises and neglect, Exxon Mobil has left us little choice but to litigate to protect our environment from further pollution," City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement. "Fourteen years of foot-dragging have added insult to decades of environmental injury by this company and its corporate predecessors."

Exxon Mobil declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Deputy City Attorney Donald Margolis said that while the contamination affects the value of the port-owned property, the pollution is not considered an imminent threat to wildlife in the area.

The lawsuit asks a judge to order Exxon Mobil to clean up the toxins and to indemnify the city against any future liability. It also demands unspecified monetary damages, attorney fees and court costs.

San Francisco has already spent $137,106 to deal with some of the problems associated with the contamination, the suit says.

"Residents and taxpayers have been footing the bill for this for too long, and it's time for Exxon Mobil to clean up its contamination and pay the price for its delay," Herrera said.