A court in north China's Tianjin municipality ordered American oil giant ConocoPhillips to pay 1.68 million yuan (265,000 U.S. dollars) to 21 fishermen on Friday, who claimed their fishing interests and livelihood were severely damaged by the 2011 Bohai Bay oil spill.
The verdict temporarily ends nearly four years of haggling between the fishermen and ConocoPhillips, who, along with Chinese state-owned oil giant CNOOC, were held responsible for the contamination of more than 6,200 square km of water in the Bohai Bay after a large spill in the area's oilfields.
In 2012, Chinese authorities reached a settlement with the two companies granting affected fishermen one billion yuan in total.
The 21 fishermen in the case did not join the settlement process and filed their litigation on Dec. 30. 2011.
CNOOC was exempted from paying 21 fishermen compensation by the court because it said CNOOC was not the operator of the oilfield.
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