Recently, there was an oil spill accident in a village in Zhidan County, Yan’an, Shaanxi Province, causing oil to flow into roads and pollute rivers. Local netizens have raised concerns that in recent years, severe crude oil pollution has plagued the area, with farmers even facing water quality issues, yet the authorities have turned a blind eye to the problem.
On December 26th, several netizens posted videos on social media claiming that an oil spill occurred in Zhaiziwu Village, Yizheng Town of Zhidan County, Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province. The video shows dark crude oil flowing down a slope, covering a large area and spilling into the river, extending for tens of meters.
According to netizens, the pollutant is crude oil leaked from a local oil extraction factory. As reported by Red Star News on the 27th, the accident happened at the VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) waste gas treatment project of the Yan Chang Oilfield Corporation’s Zhidan oil extraction factory. Authorities from Zhidan County’s Ecological Environment Law Enforcement Team stated that the environmental pollution incident was caused by a safety accident involving crude oil gushing out, and the relevant responsible persons have been brought under control.
Regarding the cause of the accident, staff from the relevant departments in Zhidan County told Jímù News that during the cleaning of integrated storage tanks at the Zhaiziwu Joint Station of the Zhidan oil extraction factory, equipment ruptured, leading to the crude oil spill. The head of the publicity department of the Zhidan oil extraction factory stated, “This (accident) occurred during the handling of crude oil by a subcontracting company, and the site has already been cleaned up.”
As for the amount of crude oil leaked, the Yan’an City Ecological Environment Protection Comprehensive Law Enforcement Detachment stated in response to inquiries from Benliu News that the calculation is still ongoing.
The official website of the Yan Chang Oilfield Corporation shows that the Zhidan oil extraction factory is one of the 12 oil extraction factories under the Yan Chang Oilfield, a large oil extraction plant producing over 2 million tons of crude oil annually, and as of September 2022, it has accumulated a total oil production of 45.4987 million tons.
According to an earlier report from the Beijing Times, in August 2, 2015, an oil well platform at the Yanchang Petroleum West Zone Oil Extraction Factory in Zhidan County had an oil spill accident, with a large amount of crude oil flowing into the river, contaminating an approximately 8-kilometer stretch of the river. The report also mentioned that there have been frequent incidents of crude oil spills in the oil field-rich areas of Northern Shaanxi. The causes of crude oil spills include pipeline ruptures, tank overflows, among others.
Local netizens also expressed, “There have been several incidents like this in Yan’an.” “The safety measures for crude oil are inadequate, with hundreds of tons of crude oil flowing into the river. In recent years, even the water consumed by farmers has been affected… and no one is taking responsibility. When officials come and take a look, they just pay some money and everything is considered fine.”