ConocoPhillips received permission to resume full production at Penglai 19-3 oil field in China’s northern Bohai Bay after being sanctioned by the Chinese goverment for oil seeps during 2011, China's State Oceanic Administration said.
The clearance was announced on Feb. 16. Production was halted in September 2011. Previously, China's National Energy Administration approved a revised overall development plan (OGJ Online, Jan 11, 2013).
ConocoPhillips’s China owns 49% interest in Penglai 19-3, which it operates. CNOOC Ltd. owns the rest.
Production gradually resumed starting last year. ConocoPhillips reported its share of production at 45,000 b/d at the end of third quarter 2012 compared with 62,000 b/d before the spills.
On June 4, 2011, seepage was observed on the seabed along a natural fault near Penglai 19-3 Platform B. Oil and gas bubbles were seen on the surface June 17 near Platform C, 2 miles from the Platform B seep (OGJ Online, Sept. 12, 2011).
ConocoPhillips estimated the total volume released at 700 bbl of oil and 2,589 bbl of mineral oil-based drilling mud.
In 2012, ConocoPhillips and CNOOC reached agreements with China’s Ministry of Agriculture and the SOA. The oil companies agreed to pay $160 million to the Ministry of Agriculture and $173 million to SOA in compensation for two June 2011 oil spill incidents in Penglai 19-3 (OGJ Online, Jan. 25, 2012).
