South Korea oil leak contained

An S-Oil Corp storage facility in Ulsan, South Korea, experienced an oil leak last week (Friday April 4th), which continued for three days. The leak at South Korea's third-largest oil company's refinery was caused when a blending mixer in a storage tank broke, making a hole in its side. The tank was holding around 570,000 barrels of crude oil at the time of the incident.

By Sunday morning, it was reported that around 138,000 barrels of oil had leaked from the storage tank, all of which was contained to the refinery's property. In an e-mailed statement, S-Oil said that workers had transferred around 381,000 barrels of crude from the leaking tank to another that was nearby. As of 3.30pm (local time) on Sunday (April 6th), only 51,000 barrels remained within the leaking tank.  

Firefighters were on-site to spray foam over the oil that leaked from the tank in an effort to avoid fire. A concrete structure that is built around the tank contained the oil and stopped it flowing into the ocean.

On Monday (April 7th) it was reported that the leak had been contained, three days after it began. According to officials, the leak was stopped on Sunday evening, with most of the remaining oil being transferred to another tank. In total around 140,000 barrels of crude oil leaked before it was contained.

An investigation will now be launched in order to ascertain the cause of the malfunction within the tank that led to the oil leak. The oil company will be working in cooperation with the fire department and police on the investigation. 

The storage tank is one of 15 at the oil refinery, which serves to refine crude oil that is imported from Saudi Arabia. The chief executive of S-Oil, Nasser Al-Mahasher, apologised for the incident, stating that great effort will be made during the cleanup to ensure that the oil does not spread to areas outside of the plant and does not reach the ocean.