Vandals cause 8,000 barrels of oil to spill in Peruvian Amazon

Peru state oil company Petroperu said approximately 8,000 barrels of crude oil had spilled in the Amazon after vandals severed the pipeline and then impeded technicians seeking to repair the damaged pipe.

The pipe began to spill oil on Tuesday night after sabotage by members of the Mayuriaga indigenous community in the Loreto region of the Amazon, Petroperu said in a statement.

"The townspeople prevented us from securing the pipe to stop petroleum from spilling from the pipe," said Beatriz Alva Hart, a Petroperu spokeswoman in an interview with local radio station RPP.

The pipeline, which transports crude from oil fields in the Peruvian Amazon to Petroperu´s refinery on the Pacific coast, has suffered repeated attacks by vandals over the past two years.

Since 2016, more than 20,000 barrels of petroleum have spilled from the critical Peruvian oil pipeline in 15 attacks, and 5,600 barrels have sprung leaks because of corrosion or operative failures, data from environmental regulator OEFA showed.

Visit our Oil Spill Clean-up Services page here.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

Comments are closed.

Call Now Button