ConocoPhillips Takes Responsibility for Bohai Bay Oil Spill

ConocoPhillips (COP), the third-largest U.S. oil company, takes responsibility and will compensate those affected by two oil spills in China’s Bohai Bay in June.

Two compensation funds, established in September by ConocoPhillips, will support environmental research and communities affected by the spill, the Houston-based company said in a statement today. It’s “premature” to set the amount of the funds, Aftab Ahmed, a spokesman said in an e-mail.

“These funds can help address the challenges of those who have been affected and promote the environmental sustainability of Bohai Bay,” ConocoPhillips Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva said in the statement.

The spill leaked 3,300 barrels of oil and drilling mud into north China’s Bohai Bay, the country’s largest spill in a year. More than 100 Chinese fisherman filed a lawsuit against ConocoPhillips, seeking 490 million yuan ($77 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported last week.

ConocoPhillips rose 1.1 percent to $70.56 at the close in New York.

To contact the reporter on this story: Benjamin Haas in New York at bhaas7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tina Davis at tinadavis@bloomberg.net