China seals key port after major oil spill

The Chinese are reporting that they now have 500 fishing boats working on their spill, for a total of 800 boats in the water. And their spill only started 5 days ago. I know we did not have 500 boats on the scene within 5 days, but to be fair, what kind of boats are they talking about? And how many do we have on site now? Anyone know...

China steps up effort to contain oil spill off DalianBy the CNN Wire StaffJuly 20, 2010 3:41 a.m. EDT

Beijing, China (CNN) -- More than 500 fishing boats joined the effort to clean up oil that gushed into a harbor in northeast China when two pipelines exploded Friday, a Chinese state-run news agency reported Monday.

The arrival of the boats in Xingang Harbor in Dalian, China, more than doubled the number that were already on site. They were equipped with oil absorbers and dispersants to help workers clean up an oil slick that had spread across at least 183 square kilometers (71 square miles) off the coastal city in Liaoning Province, the Xinhua news agency said.

The cleanup effort focused on an area south of Dalian's Golden Pebble Beach and east of Bangchui Island.

Strong winds on Sunday helped limit the oil's spread, said Luan Yuxuan, deputy director of Dalian City's Oceanic and Fishery Administration. He predicted Monday that cleanup operations would last at least four to five days.

In all, 24 oil cleanup vessels and 800 fishing boats were engaged in the effort and 460 tons of oil had been collected, he said Monday.

Officials did not know how much oil had been spilled, he said.

Ship traffic at Dalian, China's second-largest port for crude oil imports, was limited so as not to interfere with the cleanup efforts, said Wang Ning, a senior engineer with the maritime affairs bureau of Liaoning Province.

Xingang port was engulfed in flames Friday night when an oil pipeline exploded. That caused an adjacent pipeline to explode, too. More than 2,000 firefighters and 338 fire engines from 14 cities across Liaoning Province worked through the night to put out the fire, Xinhua said.

No one was hurt.

A team was established Sunday morning to investigate the incident

China rushes to clean up oil spill
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EmailPrint.. AFP – CHinese fishermen attempt to contain a huge oil slick from further contaminating the Yellow Sea in Dalian, …
. Slideshow:China oil spill grows, official warns of 'severe threat' .
Mon Jul 19, 11:37 am ET
BEIJING (AFP) – Authorities in northeastern China have mobilised 1,000 vessels to help clean up an oil spill in the Yellow Sea caused by a weekend pipeline explosion and fire, the government said on Monday.

Dozens of oil-skimming vessels were working to remove the slick off the port city of Dalian following Friday night's accident which spilled an estimated 1,500 tonnes of crude into the sea, press reports said.

Another 1,000 local fishing vessels have been ordered to aid the clean-up operation, the Dalian government said in a statement on its website.

Authorities predicted the clean-up would take 10 days.

The worst of the spill, which initially covered 50 square kilometres (19 square miles), had been reduced to 45 square kilometres as of Monday, the official China Central Television (CCTV) reported on its news website.

But a dark brown oil slick had stretched over at least 183 square kilometres of ocean, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The Dalian government said the last remnants of the fire had finally been put out and it declared a "decisive victory" against the spill, but did not explicitly say whether it had been completely halted.

Two pipelines exploded at an oil storage depot belonging to China National Petroleum Corp near Dalian's Xingang Harbour in Liaoning province, triggering a spectacular blaze that burned throughout the weekend. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

Authorities have since limited ship traffic at Dalian port to allow the clean-up operations to proceed, according to Xinhua.

CNPC is the country's biggest oil company.

Media reports quoted Dalian authorities saying investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the accident, which occurred after a Libyan-flagged tanker discharged its load at the port.

The tanker made it away from the oil storage facility safely, reports said.

reply to post by lasertaglover


So that article is claiming that the Chinese have 1,000 boats cleaning their oil spill, and another 1,000 fishing boats ordered to start clean-up as well.

Some different possbilities here:

1) The Chinese government is following BP policy and lying about how much effort they are putting in to the clean-up...

or

2) The Chinese really do have 2,000 boats tackling this problem which should be a lesson for us in the US proving to us that the Federal Government and BP are both inept. Five days after the spill in the Gulf, there was nowhere near 2,000 boats on hand doing anything. I bet there was not even 100 boats working on the spill at the five day mark!

Which do you think is true? (or none of the above and you have your own theory)

Finally, a little bit more realistic news:

Large China oil spill threatens sea life, water
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EmailPrint.. AP – In this Tuesday, July 20, 2010 photo, firemen work on a burnt-out oil storage facility in Dalian, in …

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By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer Cara Anna, Associated Press Writer – 32 mins ago

BEIJING – China's largest reported oil spill emptied beaches along the Yellow Sea as its size doubled Wednesday, while cleanup efforts included straw mats and frazzled workers with little more than rubber gloves.

An official warned the spill posed a "severe threat" to sea life and water quality as China's latest environmental crisis spread off the shores of Dalian, once named China's most livable city.

One cleanup worker has drowned, his body coated in crude.

"I've been to a few bays today and discovered they were almost entirely covered with dark oil," said Zhong Yu with environmental group Greenpeace China, who spent the day on a boat inspecting the spill.

"The oil is half-solid and half liquid and is as sticky as asphalt," she told The Associated Press by telephone.

The oil had spread over 165 square miles (430 square kilometers) of water five days since a pipeline at the busy northeastern port exploded, hurting oil shipments from part of China's strategic oil reserves to the rest of the country. Shipments remained reduced Wednesday.

by CARA ANNA Associated Press

updated 2 hours 9 minutes ago

Share Print Font: +-BEIJING — China and environmental observers said cleanup efforts on the country's largest reported oil spill were progressing Thursday, but the environmental and economic damage was clear.

The cleanup — marred by the drowning of a worker this week, his body coated in crude — continued over a 165 square mile (430 square kilometer) stretch of the Yellow Sea off the northeastern city of Dalian, one of China's major ports and strategic oil reserve sites.

China National Petroleum Corp. said Thursday that the pipeline that exploded and caused the oil spill last Friday had resumed operations. The blast had reduced oil shipments from part of China's strategic oil reserves to the rest of the country. The cause of the explosion that started the spill was still not clear.

The company, Asia's biggest oil-and-gas producer by volume, also said more than 400 tons of oil had been cleaned up by 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a posting on its website.

The environmental group Greenpeace China released photos Thursday of local fishermen cleaning up oily sludge at Weitang Bay with shovels, and of an employee scooping up dead snails at Guotai Water Products Farm, about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the site of the explosion and spill.

"Dalian's seafood farming and tourism industries have taken critical hits," Greenpeace China said in a statement. It estimated 10,000 shellfish farms have been contaminated.

Fishing in the waters around Dalian has been banned through the end of August, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Greenpeace China also saw progress in the cleanup at Jin#an, one of Dalian's most popular beaches.

"On Jin#an beach, several hundred fishermen, citizens and paramilitary police were using straw mats to absorb the oil," said Zhong Yu, a Greenpeace China worker. "The cleanup there was almost done, but the air still remained smelly."

The Dalian Daily newspaper cited an official in charge of cleanup efforts as saying the polluted area was shrinking, but no update on the spill size was issued Thursday.

It remained unclear exactly how much oil has spilled, but state media has said no more is leaking into the sea.

China Central Television earlier reported an estimate of 1,500 tons of oil has spilled. That would amount roughly to 400,000 gallons (1,500,000 liters) — as compared with 94 million to 184 million gallons in the BP oil spill off the U.S. coast.

The ecological harm from the spill could last a decade, Zhao Zhangyuan, a researcher with the China Environmental Science Research Institute, told the Shanghai Morning News earlier this week.

"The most critical is the effect on people, the effect on health," Zhao said, because the decomposing oil will produce some carcinogenic substances that could move along the food chain to humans.

Lets take into account that their efforts have been made more so then what BP did going out the gate! Considering after this outcome in the Gulf.. BP's was to cover up, here at least the world knows more about this then we did going out the gate with this GOM issue. I expect there approch to contain and clean will be better then what we have seen thus far.
Lets hope so, Two sides of the Oceans are in trouble..

At least there are those that know, to spread Corexit is not he way to go!

A lesson learn! Many will eat that/this mistake I'm certain while it remains in the Gulf.. (Very little wiggle room for us to contain it now)It has/will continue to spread into our food chain.

My thought.. their ways(TPTB) are wasting our Earth and our life!
Because of profit made of a few 1% of them.

Right now we need to get a good bead on a resolve, not looking good so far with the Born again Idiots that are in charge. What can we expect, their work schedule is only 80 days of the year (US-Gov)to screw us, wow very proficent I might say, (with the time spent)and we pay them to do so. Meanwhile the A$$holes turn a blind eye, and can't see out of the other.. allowing this to continue at our expense.(TPTB)
No hope for those that don't listen.

Sorry.. I just flash White Hot on this!!

Jesse!

Will China begin selling oil contaminated fish and shell fish? Will them selling oil contaminated fish and shell fish be a cover up for the US selling oil contaminated fish and shell fish from the Gulf of Mexico?

reply to post by jessemole


I flash pretty white hot myself about this as well.

I keep hearing the Chinese are using Oil eating Bacteria, on top of their other efforts to clean-up their mess.

Why have we not used the same stuff, nor heard much about it?

Instead, all we get is COREXIT, which kills.

reply to post by JBA2848


That is a good question. I am also curious as to when consumers are going to start seeing the prices of seafood really rise. Or is that market being controlled as well, to help cover-up somehow?