Oil that spewed from an offshore drilling rig in the North China Sea (Yellow Sea) for more than two weeks last month spread 320 square miles, government officials acknowledged July 5, amid public outrage over why it took so long for fishermen and local residents to be informed of the spill. News of the spill emerged in late June on the microblogging site Sina Weibo and was not confirmed by the authorities until July 1. China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said July 5 that US energy giant ConocoPhillips is responsible for the spill. The leak took place at the Penglai 19-3 oilfield in Bohai Bay, a field being exploited by ConocoPhillips China under a joint development agreement with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation. (NYT, Xinhua, July 5)

This same region was the scene of a devastating oil spill almost exactly a year ago, and also in November 2002. (Interlinked Climate & Energy Challenges)

See our last posts on China and the politics of oil spills.

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