CNOOC reports third oil spill into Bohai Bay in less than two months
The China National Offshore Oil Corporation, plagued by a string of recent accidents and accusations of cover-ups, has been hit by a new spill off the mainland's northern coast.
It is the third spill that the country's biggest offshore oil and gas producer has reported in Bohai Bay in less than two months. It comes a day after a fire broke out at a CNOOC refinery near the Daya Bay nuclear power station in Guangdong.
The State Oceanic Administration said the leak occurred early yesterday morning in the Suizhong 36-1 oilfield, when its central platform was hit by a control system breakdown. Up to 0.15 cubic metres of oil leaked into the water, affecting an area of about one square kilometre, the administration said, citing initial estimates by CNOOC's Tianjin branch.
CNOOC was trying to contain the spill, using oil absorbent mats and dispersant, according to a statement on the administration's website.
The administration had sent a helicopter and used satellite remote sensing to monitor the spill, it added.
Analysts said the spill once again exposed worrying safety loopholes in the oil giant's offshore oil drilling and processing. CNOOC was hit by two major spills at the country's largest offshore oilfield, off the coast of Shandong , last month. At least 840 square kilometres of sea was polluted, causing 'a certain level' of damage to the nearby oceanic environment, the administration said.
Mainland authorities were still cleaning up after those spills, and comprehensive assessments of their impact on fishing and long-term environmental implications were not yet available.
Although the administration has insisted that the state-owned offshore oil monopoly should not bear the main responsibility because the oilfield was operated by its American partner ConocoPhillips, CNOOC has come under fire from the mainland public over the delay in disclosing the spills, which occurred in June.
Noting that CNOOC had yet to issue a statement on the latest spill, Ma Jun , head of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the oil giant had not learned from the previous spills. 'CNOOC has missed another opportunity to behave like a responsible enterprise by making a public statement over the new oil spill.'
CNOOC issued statements yesterday on the fire at the Huizhou refinery, some 40 kilometres from the Daya Bay nuclear plant, saying it was put out within three hours.
No oil leaks or casualties were reported in that accident, but it cut fuel production at the company's biggest oil-processing plant and other refining units, Xinhua reported.
840
The area of sea, in square kilometres, polluted by two spills in CNOOC's oilfield off the coast of Shandong last month
