Environmental tragedy in Ecuador: oil spill in the Amazon could reach a river

The oil spilled in the Ecuadorian Amazon due to the rupture of the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP) could reach the Coca River, the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador warned this Saturday. Ecuador. “It was observed that the spill would reach the vicinity of the Coca River and possibly nearby bodies of water” in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the ministry said in a report on the spill that occurred on Friday.

Without specifying the amount of oil spilled in the jungle, the ministry added that “so far no damage has been determined at water collection points for human consumption.”

LOOK: Rupture of oil pipeline in Ecuador generates oil spill in the Amazon region

After the rupture of the pipeline, the government ordered “urgent and immediate management of contingency, cleaning and remediation activities” in the area of ​​the town of Fine stone, located in the province of Napo where does he go coca river.

For its part, OCP reported on Saturday that “the pumping of crude oil has stopped as a preventive measure, and that it will be restored when the right conditions are met.”

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The company specified that it took actions to prevent the export and transportation of crude oil from being disturbed.

According to the government, the detachment of stones due to heavy rains affected “four pipes of the infrastructure” of the OCP, which transports some 450,000 barrels of crude oil daily.

On Friday, the company had indicated that the damage was “recorded in an area where the tube is not directly exposed to rivers.”

Exports unaffected

The Emergency Operations Committee of the province of Napo worked on Saturday to guarantee the distribution of water for its inhabitants.

The Environment portfolio asked the provincial governments of Orellana, Sucumbíos and Napo to initiate actions to protect hydrographic basins from the risk that crude oil reaches the Coca River.

In images released by that ministry on Twitter, it can be seen how crude oil falls from the open pipeline. Trucks and cranes also appear moving large amounts of earth in the affected area.

????#URGENT We denounce a new oil spill on the banks of the Coca River.
we demand to @RecNaturalesEC @Ambiente_Ec @OCPEcuador @DEFENSORIAEC @DDHH_Ec Inmediate attention.
This is how the Amazon is destroyed and puts the communities and population at serious risk. pic.twitter.com/z5dQv9LnLm

— CONAIE (@CONAIE_Ecuador) January 29, 2022

In other photographs there are stones covered with oil and a black stain in the middle of vegetation.

OCP indicated that it has begun the cleaning and remediation tasks, as well as the repair of the pipeline, which has an extension of 485 kilometers and crosses four provinces.

“Containment actions aimed at avoiding environmental damage have been initiated, and for this purpose crude oil containment pools have been located in order to prevent any type of impact on water sources,” the company said in a statement.

Ecuador exploited 494,000 barrels of crude oil a day between January and November, most of it by state-owned Petroecuador, according to the Central Bank.

The Ministry of Energy confirmed in a bulletin that “scheduled production and exports have not been affected” by the incident.

In the Piedra Fina sector, in December the OCP and the state-owned Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE) had to build alternative branches of their pipelines and suspend oil pumping due to soil erosion caused by a river.

In May 2020, in the same area, there was a collapse that destroyed sections of the SOTE, the OCP and a pipeline. Then, there was a leak of some 15,000 barrels that ended up being dumped into three Amazonian rivers, affecting the riverside populations, some of them indigenous.

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Source: Elcomercio

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