Dozens of oil-skimming vessels were working to remove the slick off the port city of Dalian following Friday night's accident which spilled an estimated 1,500 tonnes of crude into the sea, press reports said.

Another 1,000 local fishing vessels have been ordered to aid the clean-up operation, the Dalian government said in a statement on its website.

Authorities predicted the clean-up would take 10 days.

The worst of the spill, which initially covered 50 square kilometres (19 square miles), had been reduced to 45 square kilometres as of Monday, the official China Central Television (CCTV) reported on its news website.

But a dark brown oil slick had stretched over at least 183 square kilometres of ocean, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The Dalian government said the last remnants of the fire had finally been put out and it declared a "decisive victory" against the spill, but did not explicitly say whether it had been completely halted.

Two pipelines exploded at an oil storage depot belonging to China National Petroleum Corp near Dalian's Xingang Harbour in Liaoning province, triggering a spectacular blaze that burned throughout the weekend. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

Authorities have since limited ship traffic at Dalian port to allow the clean-up operations to proceed, according to Xinhua.

CNPC is the country's biggest oil company.

Media reports quoted Dalian authorities saying investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the accident, which occurred after a Libyan-flagged tanker discharged its load at the port.

The tanker made it away from the oil storage facility safely, reports said.

earlier related report
China-ASEAN dispute stalls S.China Sea projects: diplomat
Hanoi (AFP) July 19, 2010 - Plans for joint development in disputed South China Sea territories have hit a snag over persistent disagreements between China and the ASEAN bloc, a diplomatic source said Monday.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remain in dispute over Beijing's claim to the entire sea area, the source said, and China's approach of dealing with individual ASEAN claimants instead of the grouping as a whole.

The plans for joint development by China and the 10-member ASEAN would include marine research and possibly oil and gas exploration, the diplomat said.

"China is biding its time because it wants to deal with us bilaterally," the diplomat said.

"ASEAN wants a collective stand. It views the South China Sea issue as a collective matter."

ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have claims to the Spratly archipelago, along with Taiwan. Vietnam also claims the more northerly Paracels.

The Southeast Asian claimants say that even ASEAN nations with no claims are affected by what happens in the South China Sea, which hosts major shipping lanes, said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

"We want to meet in October to discuss the implementing guidelines for the planned joint development projects," the diplomat told AFP, referring to a meeting of senior foreign ministry officials.

But he said he did not know if China would agree to the meeting.

ASEAN hopes to ultimately sign an agreement with China for a binding "regional code of conduct" that will govern actions in the South China Sea and replace a non-binding "declaration" by the claimants not to take destabilising actions in the area.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called for free access to the South China Sea, saying Washington objected to any effort to "intimidate" US energy firms in the region.

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