Texas oil giant behind spill off China's coast

An oil spill covering over 1,600 square miles has occurred off the northeast coast of China, with the contamination coming from a joint operation of Texas-based oil giant ConocoPhillips and China National Offshore Oil Corp.

The disaster began unfolding in early June but was first revealed publicly on a Chinese government agency's website earlier this week and reported by Chinese state media today, according to Agence France-Presse. ConocoPhillips issued a news release about the disaster on Wednesday -- the same day China's State Oceanic Administration ordered the company to suspend production in the area.

According to ConocoPhillips, the spill was actually two separate incidents: a seepage from the seabed of the Penglai 19-3 oilfield in Bohai Bay that was first observed on June 4, and a second release of oil and gas that occurred on June 17 about two miles away from the first spill near a drilling platform on June 17. There are several oilfields located in the Bohai Bay estimated to contain a total of 146 billion gallons of oil.

ConocoPhillips estimates that the total amount of oil and oil-based drilling fluids that have spilled is 1,500 barrels, or 63,000 gallons. The spills have polluted a total area of 1,650 square miles, AFP reports.  China's state-run media says the government is considering seeking compensation for the disaster from ConocoPhillips, which has mobilized cleanup operations.

The spill comes as the news emerged that oil from last year's BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is continuing to wash up on U.S. shores.

ConocoPhillips is the fifth-largest private-sector energy company in the world. It earned $11.4 billion in profits last year, up from $4.4 billion in 2009.

(Map showing Bohai Bay by Kmusser via Wikimedia Commons.)