Oil firm to finish spill cleanup
By Lydia Chen |
August 20, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
US-BASED ConocoPhillips yesterday said it will complete its cleanup of oil spills in Bohai Bay by the end of this month, more than two months after the leaks started spreading across northeast China's coast.
The Houston-based oil producer "sincerely regrets" the June oil spills and accepts its "responsibilities," according to a statement posted yesterday on the website of the company's China unit.
The statement said it is now "going all out" to try to clean up the spill by the end of this month, a request that has been demanded twice by China's marine authorities over past weeks.
The statement came as fishermen in Hebei Province are preparing to sue the company. They believe the oil spills are to blame for the deaths of large numbers of scallops.
Fishermen from the province's Tangshan City said they believe the scallops were poisoned by contamination from the Penglai 19-3 oilfield spills in Bohai Bay.
The fishermen's economic losses are believed to be between 150 million yuan and 170 million yuan (US$23.5 million and US$26.6 million) as more than half of the scallops they raised have died, said Yang Jizhen, president of the Laoting County Fishery Association in Tangshan.
However, ConocoPhillips said in yesterday's statement that it hasn't seen any "demonstrated" cases of harm to marine life from the oil leaks, but the company is willing to cooperate with Chinese authorities to determine whether the spills could have caused the deaths of marine creatures.
The oilfield is jointly operated by the Chinese unit of ConocoPhillips and its partner China National Offshore Oil Corp.
The North Sea branch of the State Oceanic Administration said on August 3 that the bay had been contaminated with fuel oil.
ConocoPhillips pledged to submit a plan to the State Oceanic Administration on how it is going to carry out the cleanup and its future plans to handle possible environment contaminations.
"The company will conduct investigations to assess the environment situation around the Penglai oilfield," Situ Rui, president of ConocoPhillips China unit, said in the statement.
The oceanic administration has already expressed growing frustration at moves so far taken by ConocoPhillips, which has repeatedly failed to contain the spills.
The oil leaks have polluted 840 square kilometers of water, the oceanic administration said.
The Houston-based oil producer "sincerely regrets" the June oil spills and accepts its "responsibilities," according to a statement posted yesterday on the website of the company's China unit.
The statement said it is now "going all out" to try to clean up the spill by the end of this month, a request that has been demanded twice by China's marine authorities over past weeks.
The statement came as fishermen in Hebei Province are preparing to sue the company. They believe the oil spills are to blame for the deaths of large numbers of scallops.
Fishermen from the province's Tangshan City said they believe the scallops were poisoned by contamination from the Penglai 19-3 oilfield spills in Bohai Bay.
The fishermen's economic losses are believed to be between 150 million yuan and 170 million yuan (US$23.5 million and US$26.6 million) as more than half of the scallops they raised have died, said Yang Jizhen, president of the Laoting County Fishery Association in Tangshan.
However, ConocoPhillips said in yesterday's statement that it hasn't seen any "demonstrated" cases of harm to marine life from the oil leaks, but the company is willing to cooperate with Chinese authorities to determine whether the spills could have caused the deaths of marine creatures.
The oilfield is jointly operated by the Chinese unit of ConocoPhillips and its partner China National Offshore Oil Corp.
The North Sea branch of the State Oceanic Administration said on August 3 that the bay had been contaminated with fuel oil.
ConocoPhillips pledged to submit a plan to the State Oceanic Administration on how it is going to carry out the cleanup and its future plans to handle possible environment contaminations.
"The company will conduct investigations to assess the environment situation around the Penglai oilfield," Situ Rui, president of ConocoPhillips China unit, said in the statement.
The oceanic administration has already expressed growing frustration at moves so far taken by ConocoPhillips, which has repeatedly failed to contain the spills.
The oil leaks have polluted 840 square kilometers of water, the oceanic administration said.
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