Repsol must continue paying compensation, Peru insists

LIMA — Peru’s environmental authorities said Saturday that Repsol must comply with its obligations, a day after fishermen and workers protested against the oil company’s alleged refusal to continue paying compensation after an oil spill earlier this year.

The Ministry of the Environment stated in a statement that it “ratifies its commitment to continue the actions” related to environmental recovery and attention to the communities in the affected area.

On January 15, some 12,000 barrels of oil spilled as an Italian-flagged tanker unloaded crude at the Repsol-owned coastal La Pampilla refinery, some 30 kilometers north of Lima.

On Friday, numerous affected fishermen and workers marched in Lima to demand that Repsol continue to pay the agreed compensation due to its alleged refusal to do so, arguing that the government had not extended the state of environmental emergency that expired on October 18.

The dissatisfied announced upcoming mobilizations to demand that Repsol comply with the reparations.

The Ministry of the Environment said on Saturday that the end of the declaration of an environmental emergency does not imply ruling out subsequent and necessary actions to address the damage from the oil spill.

“RELAPASAA (Repsol’s La Pampilla SAA Refinery) is responsible for fulfilling its obligations,” he said.

The company told the AP that it will maintain the compensation payments while the process of final reparation agreements with those affected continues.

In October, environmental authorities fined Repsol the equivalent of $10.8 million. A lawsuit that the Peruvian State filed against Repsol and five other companies for 4,500 million dollars is ongoing in the courts.

The company “informed us that it would stop paying because the Ministry of the Environment does not declare a new state of environmental emergency,” Raúl Llacua, a lawyer for the Ancón Artisanal Fishermen Association (Apescaa), told the AP.

“Before, a state of emergency was declared, but this ended on October 18 last. However, that does not imply that everything is already fine, ”he added.

He noted that Repsol promised to pay 3,000 soles (784.41 dollars) each month as an advance for reparation to 2,500 affected fishermen while the contaminated area is being cleaned and the same amount to 8,500 workers in other industries affected for two months.

In a meeting of the victims with officials, the government promised to transfer the protesters’ demands to the company and set up work groups with those affected.

The oil spill affected an area slightly larger than the city of Paris. Repsol calculates the contaminated area at 106 square kilometers on land and at sea.

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