US energy giant ConocoPhillips and China National Offshore Oil Corp are to pay around 304.5 million yuan (US$48.3 million) to compensate fishermen in Qinhuangdao City in northern China and restore its maritime environment after oil spills in the Bohai Bay area last June.

ConocoPhillips, which has been held accountable for the spills in the Penglai 19-3 field, and CNOOC, parent of its Chinese partner in the field, reached the agreement with the Qinhuangdao government.

A ship moves near the platform B in Penglai 9-13 oilfield at north China's Bohai Bay, in this file photo taken on July 15, 2011. [Xinhua]

Qinhuangdao officials said they were now working out how to distribute the money to households affected by the spills.

In January, ConocoPhillips and CNOOC reached a settlement with the Chinese government to pay a total of 1 billion yuan compensation, and also to designate 100 million yuan of its previously announced environmental fund to be used to improve fishery resources in the region.

Chinese fishermen have sued both companies for losses caused by two oil spills, which began last June and polluted up to 6,200 square kilometers, an area nine times the size of Singapore, causing huge losses in the tourism and aquatic farming industries of Liaoning and Hebei provinces.

The two leaks released more than 3,000 barrels of oil and the mud that is used in drilling as a lubricant.

ConocoPhillips is the Penglai field's operator with a 49 percent stake, while CNOOC's listed unit CNOOC Ltd owns 51 percent as a non-operator.

In early September, China's State Oceanic Administration ordered the closure of the entire Penglai19-3 field after ConocoPhillips failed to contain the leaks. ConocoPhillips was deficient in management of the field and didn't adopt necessary measures following the spills, the maritime authority said.

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