Court receives evidence in lawsuit over U.S. ConocoPhillips oil leakage
Take me away, mom Animals on the Road	“Water Margin” on eggs Cat the occupier Adorable animals pose like stars Cuddle up together, battling against blizzard Sunshine in the life

 

A maritime court in Qingdao, Shandong Province, has received evidence in connection with an oil spill in the Bohai Bay in a multi-million yuan lawsuit against multinational oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips and State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the CNOOC.

A total of 205 fishermen are suing the two companies for 170 million yuan, or about 24 million US dollars.

The court did not decide on the case on Wednesday as both sides applied for a postponement in presenting evidence.

The next hearing is expected in two months.

The oil spill took place in June 2011 at the Penglai 19-3 oil field, which was being jointly developed by ConocoPhillips and the CNOOC.

Three months later, ConocoPhillips was ordered to suspend its operations in the Bohai bay.

Official reports said the spill tainted more than 6,200 square kilometers of water, about 10 percent of the Bay.

In 2012, Chinese authorities reached a settlement with the two companies granting affected fishermen a total of 1 billion yuan.

But 21 affected fishermen from Hebei Province did not join the settlement process and filed their lawsuit.

In October last year, a maritime court in Tianjin Municipality ordered ConocoPhillips to pay 1.68 million yuan to them.

But meanwhile, the Tianjin court exempted the CNOOC from paying the 21 fishermen, saying the Chinese enterprise was not in charge of operating the oilfield.

Author： 　　　Source：CRI　　　 Editor：Yang Fan