BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said over the weekend that water quality in the East China Sea where an Iranian tanker sank over two weeks ago met the first-level standards of China.

The official response comes amid continuing concerns that the condensate oil from the sunken ship might endanger the marine ecology, according to Monday's Global Times.

SOA staff took 20 water samples near where the tanker carrying 136,000 tons of highly volatile condensate oil went down on January 14. The samples taken between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning show that oil concentration in the sampled seawater is lower than 50 milligram per liter, said the SOA.

The result shows that the water quality in the sampled region met first-level standards, Wang Yamin, a professor at Shandong University's School of Oceanography, was quoted as saying by the paper.

Samples taken on Friday and Saturday also meet the country's first-level standards, SOA said in a separate statement released on Saturday.

China's seawater quality standards implemented in 1982 states that the first-level standard is suitable for maritime fishing, nature protection zones and endangered marine organisms.