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Indigenous communities feel brunt of 2,500-barrel oil spill in Peru
Kaieteur News – Even as Peru deals with the aftermath of an approximately 12,000-barrels spill – which is considered its worst ecological disaster to date – the country is facing yet another oil spill disaster.
On September 16, last, the country’s Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA) announced via its website that approximately 2,500 barrels of crude oil was spilled into the country’s Amazon region. The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest covering much of northwestern Brazil and extending into Colombia, Peru and other South American countries.
According to Peruvian reports, a pipeline belonging to Petroperu, a state-owned company was reportedly intentionally damaged and caused the oil spill in Peru’s 782 square kilometres Amazon rainforest territory. To date, that spill has affected several indigenous comminutes in the country’s Northeast region of Loreto.
Peru’s Ministry of Environment has estimated that the spill was around 2,500 barrels but Petroperu is yet to quantify the disaster.
Petroperu said in a statement that the spill had been the result of “intentional” damage done to an oil pipeline operated by the company.
In a subsequent statement, the Peruvian Government disclosed that communities that were affected by the spill were blocking the Maranon River, the principal source of the Amazon River – as such preventing officials from taking water samples and distributing medicines to the affected indigenous communities.
The OEFA reported that the spill affected a total of 848,400 m2 of body of water. It was also stated that the recovery of the vegetation impregnated with hydrocarbons was carried out.
According to Petroperu, the September 16 spill is the 11th that occur this year in the Amazon – but it is the first that flow into a river.
The spill in the Amazon rainforest is considered as Peru’s second largest spill – and comes months after the country recorded its worst ‘ecological disaster.’ In January, approximately 12,000 barrels of crude was spilled into the Pacific Ocean from an oil refinery belonging to Spanish oil giant Repsol. The Peruvian Government has since filed a lawsuit seeking the total of US$4.5 billion from the oil giant over the environmental disaster.
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