A crude oil spill of approximately 2,500 barrels happened in the Amazon region. It seems that this incident won’t pass easily as Peruvian indigenous groups decided to block a large river in the country’s part of the Amazon region. The Amazon region is where the world’s largest rainforest is and is called the “lungs of the world”.
State-owned oil company Petroperu confirmed a crude oil spill from one of their pipelines occurred. But, it did not explain media why if the spill happened on September, 16 they did not inform the public until now. The company said they do not know the amount of spilled crude oil. Still, the Peruvian environment ministry confirmed the spill of around 2,500 barrels.
Indigenous communities protest
The spill affected indigenous communities in the Loreto region. Loreto region in Peru is in the northeast of the country and is a part of the wider Amazon region. Thus, they blocked one of the large rivers of the Amazon delta.
The government issued a statement that confirms the blockade of the Maranon River by the communities. Maranon River is a key tributary of the Amazon. The blockade prevents officials to take water samples and distribute medicines to the affected communities.
Frequent oil spill incidents in Peru
This is not the first time the spill to occur from this Petroperu’s pipeline. There were several oil spills in recent years.
Petroperu said that the spill is a result of intentional damage to an oil pipeline. According to the company, this pipeline transports crude oil from the Amazon to Peru’s desert coast where the refineries are located.
But, this incident is at least the second large oil spill in Peru this year. The first the public was informed of was the spilling of over 10,000 barrels of crude oil from Spanish oil company Repsol’s tanker. This environmental incident happened in the Peruvian maritime territory in the Pacific Ocean in January this year.
The last spill is the eleventh to take place this year in Amazon. Being the world’s largest rainforest the Amazon and its preservation are a place of the highest importance for world climate. Brazil has the largest part of the Amazon, and Peru has the second largest part of the rainforest.