2011 Bohai Bay oil spill
The oil disaster in the Bohaisee 2011 occurred due to a leak in an offshore production facility in Penglai 19-3 oilfield.
Initial situation
The state oil production company has in the Bohaisee the drilling rights for oil and gas. The U.S. firm ConocoPhillips (supplier of the German jet fuel) operates the conveyor system in oilfield, Penglai 19-3. The oil field is considered the largest offshore oilfield in China. Although it is operated by partner ConocoPhillips, the State CNOOC holds a majority stake of 51 percent.
Since 2006, oil production in Bohai Bay had already doubled the Yellow Sea, according to estimates. The direction for further expansion are before the central government in Beijing and China's coastal provinces to implement the specifications in a fast pace. The expansion of offshore oil production is enshrined in the Five-Year Plan (2011-2015 ). Oil and gas from the sea should help to meet the growing energy needs of the second largest economy in the world.
The Bohai Sea is bordered on the North and South Korea and is heavily impacted by industrial facilities on land. The people of the coast of the Bohai Sea live among other things, the breeding of the scallop. You supply the markets in the U.S., South Korea and Japan with her.
Course
How was reconstructed by independent experts later, it came in early June 2011, probably on June 4 from unknown to this day circumstances to two leaks in the gas field Penglai 19-3.
Only six weeks after emergence of the first leaks, the authorities had presented facts: The contamination consisted therefore a total area of 4250 square kilometers ( five times the area of Berlin ). More 3400 square kilometers were contaminated to a lesser extent, said Chinese authorities. Together this represents an area of about half of Schleswig-Holstein. First was only 840 square kilometers of the question.
There is no reliable information on the amount of oil spilled. The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported it had leaked at least 3,200 barrels of oil and mud lumps to 5 September 2011. Previously ConocoPhillips China had ( COPC ) reported that from 1500 to 2000 barrels of oil had leaked from the two leaks in the drilling for in June 2011.
The operator of the Penglai 19-3 oil field, the company ConocoPhillips, announced in early September 2011 that there were leaks in conveyor systems and they have them sealed just in time before the deadline on August 31. China's regulatory authority, the State Oceanic Administration ( SOA), ruled out that CNOOC has the Penglai oil field shut down 19-3. The SOA argued that a shutdown is justified because the company had required more than two months to seal the leak. The oil and gas extraction was then adjusted until the authorities there is an overall expansion plan and they have approved it.
Reactions
When the pressure by the Western media was larger, the central government responded: Chinese newspapers accused the U.S. company claims to have covered up the disaster. He was more interested in his own image than in protecting the sensitive ecosystem of the Bohai Bay, wrote the " People's Daily ", the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party. A spokesman for ConocoPhillips spokesman dismissed the allegations. The company had reported the accident immediately to the competent authorities.
For 2011, in the oil field delivery of 104,000 barrels per day was provided, which should be in 2012 actually increased to 141,000 barrels. CNOOC expected in 2011 so that its daily production will fall by 40,000 barrels due to the closure.
To financially to take responsibility for the environmental damage, the company CNCC has announced to launch a fund.
Eleven Chinese environmental organizations wrote in July 2011, a letter to supervisory bodies of the stock markets in New York and Hong Kong, where ConocoPhillips and CNOOC are listed. They demanded an investigation of the accident.
Greenpeace in Beijing expressed disappointment that the Chinese authorities had apparently learned nothing from the previous oil spills. There is a lack of a systematic disaster management as well as on an updated legal framework, can be adequately tackled oil company with the said a representative of the organization. Clearly the 'll also that against ConocoPhillips low fine of 200,000 yuan ( 22,000 euros ) was imposed - the highest amount prescribed by Chinese law for such cases.
Extent and effects
Several months flowed oil from the platform in the Bohaibucht. The information policy of the operating company and the Chinese government authorities has been heavily criticized: The authorities responded only to pressure from Western media and environmental organizations to the oil spill. Satellite images of earth observation satellites showed the extent of the oil film on the sea and on the seabed. A MODIS / Aqua satellite image from June 14, 2011 already showed a serious oil spill in the bay.
The environmental consequences of the oil spill came from the middle of July the Chinese coast. A 300 -meter-long oil slick on a beach in the northern province of Hebei was due to the incidents in Bohai Bay, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing a government representative. More oil residues from the leak had been discovered in a four- kilometer stretch of coastline in the northeastern province of Liaoning. The Chinese newspaper " Nanfang Dushibao " reported in July 2011 of an algal bloom in the affected sea area. According to information of the sheet, the algae grow en masse near the production platforms, where the oil has leaked.
The environmental disaster is blamed for the significant losses in the tourism and aqua farming industry in the neighboring provinces. Fishing Report dead crabs and shrimp on the coast of the Bohai Sea. The local fishermen reported compared to the ARD that the mussels 2011 will not grow properly, they noticed oil spots on the water and on the beach, in some places even large slab of oil. The Seegurkenfischerei was de facto set. The scallops were 2011 after reports of fishermen too small for the sale.
According to the operating company the cleanup end of August 2011 were completed.