South Korean firm GS Clatex Corp have reported an oil leak into the sea off the southern coast of South Korea, according to Reuters.
A small amount of oil leaked from a pipeline which was preparing to offload crude oil from the 160,000 tonne tanker, the Wuyi San. A crack in the pipeline meant that oil that was already in the pipeline leaked into the sea. No oil was lost from the tanker.
The exact scale of the leak and damage is not yet known.
“About 60-70 percent of the clean-up work has been completed, and the work will continue tomorrow,” the Korea Coast Guard spokesman told Reuters by telephone.
South Korea’s GS Caltex, with a 775,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) refining capacity, is equally owned by Chevron Corp , the second-largest U.S. oil company, and South Korea’s GS Energy, owned by GS Holdings.
The South Korean prime minister’s office issued a statement regarding the spillage.
“The cause of the accident should be verified thoroughly to prevent a recurrence, while conducting a rapid clean-up to keep the ocean from being contaminated during the Lunar New Year holidays,” it said.
In 2007, South Korea’s worst oil spill occurred off the coast of Taean, when 10,500 metric tonnes spilled from a Hong Kong registered tanker that had its hull punctured in a collision.
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