The National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy (SNMPE) announced this Thursday that it has opened an internal evaluation process against the Spanish company Repsol due to the oil spill that occurred in the La Pampilla Refinery, in the district of Ventanilla.
According to the union, representatives of the company have been summoned to provide a detailed report and determine the corresponding actions within the framework of the code of conduct they manage.
“We reiterate our request to Repsol Peru to continue deploying, as quickly as possible, all the necessary efforts to resolve the consequences of the spill”. SNMPE said. “Likewise, we call on the company to adopt the decisions and actions to prevent situations like this from recurring.”.
The companies of the SNMPE of the hydrocarbon sector have made available machinery, equipment and knowledge for the control and containment of damage caused, according to the union.
The oil spill, which has so far affected some 50 kilometers from the coast, occurred when the tsunami caused by the volcanic eruption in Tonga reached the Peruvian coast at the time an oil tanker was unloading crude oil at the La Pampilla Refinery.
Repsol attributed the spill to “an unpredictable maritime phenomenon.” According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the first damage report provided by the company quantified the spill at just 7 gallons, for which it has been questioned for allegedly initially trying to hide the magnitude of the accident.