Six spills from Changqing Oilfield in March

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-03-28

Oil from the latest spill covers a ravine in Wuqi, Shaanxi province. (Internet photo)

The No. 9 oil rig at China National Petroleum Corporation's Changqing Oil Field in Wuqi, Shaanxi province, had another oil spill on Friday, reports Shanghai-based the Paper. It was the second spill for the rig and the sixth in the county for the oilfield this month.

The spill covered over land and water sources, creating swathes of oil as wide as four meters. In addition to the two oil spills of the No. 9 oil rig, the oilfield's No. 7 rig experienced three while the No. 8 rig had one this month.

A thousand bags of oil recovered from the previous spills were still placed in an idle corner at the No.9 rig.

The local environmental bureau said the spills have caused several clashes between local residents and the oil companies. One of its staff members said soil changes caused by temperature changes in spring had been one of the causes for the spills. The vice chief of the environmental supervision unit there who investigated the spills said another cause was corrosion of old pipes. Yet the Shanghai newspaper's source said human error could not be ruled out as a cause.

China's oil industry has boosted the county's economy but also caused severe pollution. In July last year, the No. 8 oil rig had a spill that polluting a wide range of land in the county. However, clean-up of the spill has yet to take place as CNPC has yet to reach an agreement with local villagers.

Three days before the spill, the environmental bureau in Gansu's Qingyang city said the Changqing Oilfield were in violation of a number of rules including those related to pollution, excessive emissions and noise, illegal excavation, the transport of hazardous waste without approval and oil spills.

The oilfield spans Shaanxi, Gansu, and Shanxi province as well as the Ningxia and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions. It has produced 5 million tons of oil a year since 2007, the highest output in China.