South Korean officials have confirmed the size of the leak at its Yeosu port as 164,000 litres, Reuters are reporting. A two week clean-up operation is now underway to remove the crude from the ocean and beaches.
The crack and subsequent leak occurred on Friday at a quay off Yeosu, more than 300 km (185 miles) south of Seoul, while the 318,445 deadweight tonne Very Large Crude Carrier Wu Yi San was preparing to berth and offload crude.
Oil remaining in the pipeline leaked, but none spilled from the tanker, which did not hit refinery production at GS Caltex, according to the refiner and the Korea Coast guard.
“A clean up would be completed within today, while a clean-up of the seashore would take one or two weeks,” a senior official at the Yeosu Coast Guard of Korea told Reuters.
The prime minister’s office, in a statement issued on Sunday, said an oil boom to control the spillage would be expanded to a diameter of 9.5 km from 5 km, and 201 vessels and five planes would work on the clean-up.
The coast guard official said the tanker was suspected of approaching the quay at a higher than recommended speed, but the exact cause of the accident was under investigation.
He added that crude oil, naphtha and other oil compounds leaked from three cracked pipelines at the quay.
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