China, Japan, Russia and the Republic of Korea (ROK) conducted a drill off the east China coast on Friday to handle an oil spill emergency.

The drill was conducted to address extensive drifting oil leaks after an oil tanker bumped into a cargo ship off the southern coast of ROK, said an official with Shandong Maritime Safety Administration.

China, Japan and Russia provided technical support and resources to handle the spillage as soon as they received ROK's call for help.

The exercise, of nearly three hours, used English as its working language for communications.

The drill aimed to enhance regional cooperation to cope with major oil spill emergencies within the northwestern Pacific area, the official told Xinhua.

China, Japan, Russia and ROK passed the Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP) in 1994 in order to deal with oil pollution accident at sea.

The four countries signed a memo on oil spill response cooperation in May 2004 on the basis of NOWPAP.

Another drill of the same kind will be staged at the end of this year, the official said.

China and ROK held "The 2008 Maritime Rescue and NOWPAP China-ROK Pollution Exercise" last September, the first time that China has hosted an international joint maritime oil spill emergency exercise.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2009)