Two major oil spills, both in China's Bohai Sea, have prompted calls for urgent risk reviews of offshore drilling.
June and July have seen China's oil safety record hit by three separate incidents.
The first, a major oil spill, occured in China's largest offshore oilfield, Penglai 19-3, around mid-June. However, neither China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC nor ConocoPhillips China (CPOC) - who jointly own the field – reported it until early July.
The exact cause of the spill, in the field off China's North East coast remains unknown, as does the date of the leak, as well as the exact quantity of oil spilt to date. Early reports measured the affected area at around 200 square metres, although other external sources report that the spill spread to an area of some 840 square kilometres around Bohai Bay. Shandong's Nanhuangcheng Island was apparently affected by the spill, with reports of dead fish and rotting seaweed around its waters.
Authorities claim to have “effectively controlled” the incident, and have deployed equipment and trained personnel to manage and clean up the spill. CPOC claim that the clean-up effort is close to completion and that all work was performed under rigorous supervision, including that of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA). However, The two companies could face significantly more than the standard 200,000 yuan ($31,000) fine, with reports of costs reaching 200m yuan ($300,000) for every 10 hectares affected.
The second leak has occurred at Suizhou 36-1 oilfield on 13 July, believed to be the be the result of a control system malfunction. Technicians were able to control the leakage area to around one square kilometre before beginning the process of repairing the system.
CNOOC's problems increased only one day later, with an explosion at the company's Daya Bay refinery in Guangdong Province. The subsequent fire sent flames to an estimated height of 100m before some 80 fire crews were able to bring the blaze under control. Nobody was injured in the incident, apparently caused by a pump seal failure in the refinery's aromatics plant, although surrounding roads were blocked with local residents trying to escape from the area. The refinery opened in June 2009 and is set to grow refined product output to an annual 40m tons by 2020.
In response to the offshore spills, China's SOA has called on operators to review emergency procedures as well as assessing the environmental impact of their operations. The SOA has also vowed to improve monitoring of offshore oil and gas and release information “accurately and promptly.”