Oil firm stands by leak response

BEIJING - US energy giant ConocoPhillips on Wednesday defended its response to a pair of oil leaks off China's northeast coast, saying it acted quickly to contain the damage and pointing out that the cleanup work was almost finished.

The remarks were in response to an announcement from China's State Oceanic Administration on Tuesday that it was investigating the company's role in last month's spills and assessing possible damage to the environment.

Georg Storaker, president of ConocoPhillips China, said the amount of oil that leaked from the Penglai 19-3 oilfield in China's Bohai Bay in June has not been fully assessed but he insisted the incident was not "comparable " to the high-profile spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year involving the oil giant BP.