Qualla: 2011 Bohai Bay Oil Spill

2011 Bohai Bay Oil Spill: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The first leak began on June 4, 2011. The public did not find out until a month later. In between, oil from the Penglai 19-3 oilfield seeped from the seafloor of Bohai Bay, contaminating 4,250 square kilometers of water -- an area the media calculated was six times the size of Singapore. The delay in disclosure fueled suspicions of a cover-up by the State Oceanic Administration, and the credibility of every official number that followed was immediately questioned.

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2011 Bohai Bay Oil Spill: Two Spills, One Month of Silence

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Penglai 19-3 oilfield sits in Bohai Bay, operated by ConocoPhillips China, a subsidiary of the Houston-based oil giant ConocoPhillips. The field is jointly owned: 51 percent by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and 49 percent by ConocoPhillips. The first spill, ...

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2011 Bohai Bay Oil Spill: Dead Seaweed and Disputed Numbers

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ConocoPhillips stated that the total volume spilled was equivalent to 1,500 barrels of oil. Chinese environmental organizations found this figure difficult to believe. Zhong Yu, senior action coordinator for Greenpeace, told the Xinhua news agency that the amount was 'questionabl...

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2011 Bohai Bay Oil Spill: A Pattern in the Bohai

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The 2011 spill was not an isolated incident. CNOOC had come under scrutiny for multiple accidents involving its Bohai Sea facilities, with the Penglai 19-3 spills representing the third such incident in less than two months. Shortly after, a spill at the Suizhong 36-1 oilfield fo...

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