Investigate oil spill in Peru’s Amazon rainforest

( Spanish) — The Public Ministry of Peru and the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Control (OEFA) reported that they opened investigations to determine the responsibilities in the oil spill registered this Friday that affects the community of Cuninico, in the Amazon jungle of the country.

The OEFA, a government agency in charge of environmental control, said in a statement that this body has begun monitoring the hydrocarbon spill that occurred at kilometer 41 of Section I of the Norperuano Pipeline (ONP), operated by the state-owned Petroperú SA

According to the statement, the incident took place near the territory of the native community of Cuninico, which is located in the district of Urarinas, in the province of Loreto. The organism says that it seeks to determine the causes, the responsibility of the event and the impact generated by the spill.

In addition, the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office established a period of 60 days to establish the causes of the spill and the responsibilities for the event.

For its part, Petroperú said in a statement that it has sent a response team to the area, in accordance with the provisions of its contingency plan.

“The cause of the present event is yet to be determined. As appropriate, this fact will be reported to the competent authorities, with whom permanent communication is maintained,” the company added.

According to what Wadson Trujillo, representative of the native community of Cuninico, told , it is not the first time they have suffered a spill of this type, since the first one occurred in 2014. Trujillo pointed out that, as it happened in that year, the spill of Hydrocarbons affect the supply of water and food to the members of the community.

For that fact, a court ruled in January 2021 that Petroperú should financially compensate those affected.