A Chinese maritime court opened a hearing on Tuesday in which 21 Chinese aquaculture farmers are suing two giant oil companies.
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The farmers claimed in Tianjin Maritime Court that their livelihoods have been greatly affected by two oil spills three and a half years ago at the companies' offshore drilling operations in northeastern China.
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The two companies are ConocoPhillips China and China National Offshore Oil Corp. The spills occurred in June 2011 at the Penglai 19-3 oilfield, China's largest and a joint exploration project between both companies.Â