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The oil company assured that it will work with the Peruvian authorities to return to operations as soon as possible, since its activities have been temporarily suspended. This, due to the spill of more than 10,000 barrels of crude oil on January 15.
This Monday, January 31, the Repsol oil company promised to collaborate with the Peruvian authorities after the Government suspended the activities of loading and unloading oil tankers. The company aims to reopen activities at the La Pampilla refinery “as soon as possible.”
In a statement, Repsol stated that “the company, without prejudice to not sharing the resolution as it considers it disproportionate and unreasonable, but in order to guarantee the supply of its products, expresses its full availability to collaborate with the Peruvian authorities.”
In addition, he highlighted that La Pampilla is responsible for supplying 40% of the Peruvian fuel market, since it processes some 120,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Indeed, it will make “the greatest efforts to avoid the risk of shortages of essential products for Peruvian citizens and the development of the country.”
Finally, the company assured that “it continues to focus all its resources and efforts on the tasks of cleaning up the spill and supporting the affected populations and fauna.”
The Peruvian Government suspends Repsol’s operations
At a press conference, the Peruvian Environment Minister, Rubén Ramírez, announced on Monday that the Government of this country has temporarily paralyzed the operations “of loading and unloading of hydrocarbons in the Peruvian sea by the operator Repsol”.
The stoppage, issued by the Environmental Assessment Control Agency (OEFA), includes the four maritime terminals that La Pampilla has to supply crude oil and a monobuoy installed in 2019.
Ramírez added that Repsol will not be able to resume these activities “until technical guarantees are provided that no other damage will occur in the Peruvian sea.”
In addition, it established that, if the oil company wants to operate again, it must also present “a management plan for hydrocarbon spills at sea.” Finally, it determined that Repsol’s facilities in Peru “will have to be certified again by the competent authorities to validate their integrity.”
This is because the Andean country’s Environment Minister considers that the oil company “has not shown clear cleanup and remediation actions in the face of what has already happened.”
For its part, the OEFA pointed out that “Repsol has failed to comply with the first deadlines imposed for cleaning up the spill”, for which it could receive several fines.
📢 @RubenJ_Ramirez_ announces the “stoppage of all hydrocarbon loading and unloading activities in the Peruvian sea, by Repsol, until it offers technical guarantees that another spill will not occur; furthermore, it has not shown clear clean-up actions.” pic.twitter.com/EKwm7J5R1l
– Ministry of the Environment 🇵🇪♻️ (@MinamPeru) January 31, 2022
However, the company assured last Sunday that “35% of the oil has already been recovered in cleaning the sea and beaches.” And he confessed that he is transporting more than 200 additional tons of equipment to Peru, from the United States, Finland, Brazil, Colombia and the United Arab Emirates.
Finally, Repsol said that it is using “the most advanced satellite technology and artificial intelligence tools” to follow the progress of the sea cleanup work, in parallel to the actions it carries out “by land, sea and air.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of soldiers and volunteers help the personnel hired by Repsol to clean the beaches.
Exit impediment for Repsol executives
The Peruvian justice, which is investigating the oil spill, prohibited four directors of the Spanish oil company Repsol from leaving the country for 18 months: one Spaniard and three Peruvians.
The prosecutors also ordered the “seizure” of the tanker “Mare Doricum” that remains anchored six miles from the port of Callao.
Today we will continue to demonstrate that the national territory is respected.
– Rubén Ramírez (@RubenJ_Ramirez_) January 31, 2022
The oil spill
The oil spill, considered an “ecological disaster” by the Peruvian government, took place on January 15 when the tanker “Mare Doricum” unloaded crude oil at the La Pampilla refinery in Ventanilla, owned by Repsol. The company blamed the volcanic eruption in Tonga for what happened.
The Peruvian government solved that the spill involved 11,900 barrels of oil, while the company assured that it was 10,396 barrels.
According to the prosecution, the black oil stain has spread over about 140 km of the refinery. An unknown number of fish, birds and marine mammals have died from this. In addition, hundreds of artisanal fishermen were left unable to work.
With EFE, AFP and Reuters