The Spanish oil company Repsol said on Friday that the refining operation was continuing after a large amount of crude oil was spilled off the coast of Peru, near the country's capital, Lima, adding that it expects it to last until the end of February, while the government of Andean declared a state of “destruction”.
Seals, fish and birds are washed ashore dead, covered in oil. Fishing activity throughout the affected area has been suspended.
Repsol said it hired fishermen to help with the decontamination.
“I used to collect crustaceans here, but now, when I walk on the shore, they are dead,” Walter de la Cruz told Reuters. “The fishermen went and sold the seafood we collected. “But now, everything stinks of death.”
The coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean is the main source of seafood for the inhabitants of the country.
Authorities say the catastrophe was sparked by the leak of 6,000 barrels of crude oil unloaded by a tanker last week at the Repsol-owned Pampia refinery. The company attributed the incident to the unusually high and violent waves, the tsunami caused by the eruption of an underwater volcano in the Tonga Islands. He has not given an estimate for the amount that fell into the sea, he says that he is still assessing the situation.
OEFA, Peru's environmental protection service, said on Thursday that 1.7 million square meters of land and 1.2 million square meters of the ocean had been contaminated.
In a statement to the Peruvian Supervisory Authority (SMV), Repsol said that refining was proceeding smoothly and that it did not expect the formal investigation to “significantly affect” its subsidiary's position in the sector, nor “our ability to supply Buy”. He assured that about 840 people are involved in the decontamination operations.
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo has described the accident as the “biggest ecological disaster” in the Andean country in decades.
Authorities banned the ship from which the crude was spilled to raise anchor the day before yesterday, Thursday. The Mare Dorium, which sails under the Italian flag, has been “banned from sailing” and will have to pay 150 million soles, or about $ 38 million, to allow it to move, Prime Minister Myrta Vasquez said.
The ship is anchored in the bay of Cayao port, where it will have to remain until the investigation is completed, according to authorities.
According to the Ministry of Environment, in addition to the approximately twenty beaches that were infected, “this terrible situation endangered the flora and fauna in two protected natural areas.”
The prediction that the cleaning will be completed by next month does not seem to convince the Peruvian expert Marino Moricaua, who “with the right equipment and if we work properly, the process will take at least two years.”
