Dalian beaches closed in wake of oil spill

Bangchui island, a popular holiday resort east of Dalian, was closed to tourists indefinitely on Tuesday morning following an oil spill caused by an offshore pipeline explosion last week.

Several bathing beaches in the port city were also fenced off.

Two crude oil pipelines exploded in Dalian's Xingang port late last Friday, triggering a fire that was extinguished after 15 hours.

The blasts, however, caused an oil slick that had stretched 183 sq km off the Dalian coast by Tuesday.

Hundreds of soldiers and local residents on Tuesday joined in the efforts to clean up the Bangchui island beach, which reeked of oil.

Firefighter Zhang Liang, 25, was killed on Tuesday working on the clean-up mission, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Zhang and his fellow soldier, Han Xiaoxiong, were pushed into the sea by a huge wave. But Han was rescued later.

On Tuesday, more than 800 fishing boats joined the massive oil spill clean-up, according to local authorities. But heavy rains and strong winds forced most of the small-sized boats back to port.

The Fujiazhuang Coastal Resort, situated in the southern part of the city, had reported some slick approaching, said Luo Chao, director of the resort, adding they have fenced off the oil on the sea to prevent it from polluting the coastal park.

Authorities also lifted a partial ban on maritime traffic at the Dalian ports on Tuesday, Xinhua said.

The maritime affairs administration of Liaoning province reported that the ports in Dalian have fully re-opened to traffic as of 5 pm on Tuesday, as waterways affected by the oil slick have been basically cleared for the resumption of shipping.

The blasts also affected the supplies of refined oil in South China, but industry analysts assured that oil prices would not be affected.

Chinese petroleum companies have reduced oil shipments from Dalian to southern provinces as the port has been partially closed in the wake of the accident, according to Xinhua.

PetroChina's north-to-south oil shipments from Dalian port - usually 30,000 to 50,000 tons per day - have been affected, said Chu Jiewang, an analyst at the Shanghai-based C1 Energy Co Ltd, a leading oil industry information provider.

The Dalian oil reserve is at the heart of Northeast China's crude oil production base and is one of country's largest oil industry bases, while Dalian is China's second largest port for crude oil imports.

Analysts said the oil reserves in southern provinces are ample and the impact of reduced shipments is so far limited.

"The inventories can last for 10 days the oil price in southern provinces has remained stable," Chu said.

Dai Yulin, vice-mayor of Dalian, said the priority now is to clean up the spilled oil within five days to reduce the possibility of contaminating international waters.

Dai said four specialized vessels would arrive in Dalian by Tuesday night, bringing the number of oil-spill-control vessels in the area to 40.

However, Yang Ailun, head of climate and energy, Greenpeace China, said although it is still too early to evaluate the environmental consequences of the incident, one thing is certain - there is "no such thing as a full clean-up of an oil spill", and the damage of every oil spill is irreversible and long-lasting.

So far, tourism in the city hasn't been too affected by the spill.

Li Yafei, 47, a native of Luoyang city in Central China's Henan province, said she visited the Bangchui island on Sunday and could smell the oil there.

"But the city area is good. There's no strange smell. And the sea and mountains are still charming," she said.

Source:China Daily