Yang Jiesen, head of the research and development division of a Beijing biotechnology company, said the Maritime Safety Administration had placed its order for the bacteria on Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Dozens of oil-skimming vessels and hundreds of fishing boats were working to remove the slick off the northeastern port city of Dalian, after the accident on Friday that spilled an estimated 1,500 tonnes of crude into the sea.

"The use of the oil-eating bacteria at the Dalian spill is the first time China has made major use of biotechnology to solve an environmental pollution problem," the report said.

The process, known as bioremediation, uses microorganisms to break down some toxic hydrocarbons present in crude oil into less harmful compounds. It was used to help mitigate the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

The Dalian incident has affected shipments of oil to southern China as the port has been partially closed, but refineries there are now processing inventories so oil prices are not expected to be impacted, Xinhua said.

Meanwhile, workers in Dalian are using oil barriers to prevent the slick from spreading, but are concerned wind and heavy rain could worsen the situation, it added.

So far, at least 460 tonnes of oil have been scooped up, according to the report, which gave no more details about the size of the spill.

According to previous news reports, the worst of the spill initially covered 50 square kilometres (19 square miles) but had been reduced to 45 square kilometres as of Monday.

But Xinhua reported then that a dark brown oil slick had stretched over at least 183 square kilometres of ocean.

earlier related report
Toxic spill from China copper mine spreads: state media
Beijing (AFP) July 20, 2010 - A toxic pollution spill from a mine operated by China's top gold producer Zijin Mining Group has spread to a second province, threatening the fishing industry there, state media said Tuesday.

Poisonous waste water from the copper mine in Fujian province has contaminated the Ting river -- a major waterway in the country's southeast -- and has now flowed downstream into Guangdong province, the China Daily said.

The pollution "will pose a big challenge to local fish farming", a notice from Guangdong environmental authorities said, according to the China Daily.

The report came as Zijin, China's third-largest copper producer, issued a statement apologising for the July 3 mishap -- which killed off nearly 1,900 tonnes of fish -- and its "improper handling" of information about the spill.

Zijin said the securities regulator had launched an investigation into the company over possible violation of information disclosure rules.

"The lessons from this incident are painful and the costs are substantial," Zijin said in the statement.

During its rapid expansion, Zijin "was overconfident, had a lack of crisis awareness and did not properly handle the balance between economic efficiency, ecological benefit and public interest".

Investigators have determined that the initial leak of 9,100 cubic metres (320,000 cubic feet) of waste water from a sludge pond had flowed through an "illegally built passage" into the Ting river.

The company at first blamed heavy rains for the toxic spill, but later released preliminary findings of a government probe that found it had ignored warnings that the flow of waste water discharge at the mine was too high.

Investigators found the company had ignored a government warning in September 2009 that said repairs to an automatic water quality monitoring system were needed.

A further 500 cubic metres of waste water seeped into the Ting late Friday, but the leak was quickly contained, the China Daily said Monday, citing company sources.

Zijin has confirmed that police have detained three executives over the spill. Three local officials have been sacked, and the head of the county government has been suspended pending further investigation, state media said.

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