An environmental disaster of hitherto incalculable dimensions was caused by the oil spill that occurred on Saturday, December 21, in the Lobitos area, in the province of Talaraapparently a product of the loading and unloading activities of crude oil on the sea coast towards the Talara Refinery.
The crude oil spill spread along Las Capullanas beach until it reached other beaches in the area, destroying marine species and affecting the tourist circuit of beaches where tourist tours are carried out daily. The amount of oil spilled and the area of expansion of the crude oil towards the Lobiteño beaches that have been severely contaminated are still unknown. The population of the Lobitos district has shown its total mortification and demands that the competent authorities carry out the investigations.
“This is a tragedy, look how the newborn turtles, the birds, the barnacles have died, this spill is affecting our tourist activity,” said citizen Jaime Llontop. According to witnesses, the spill occurred yesterday morning, when it perished, it would be the responsibility of one of the companies that carry out activities at sea, both in production and transportation.
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In this regard, Mayor Lobitos, Ricardo Bancayán, has indicated that he will proceed to file a criminal complaint in which he will request the respective compensation for all affected artisanal fishermen. On the other hand, he highlighted that the blue flag for healthy beaches had been raised; However, with this oil spill, this rating given by the regional government varies. “Lobitos had recently raised the flag of healthy beaches, but with this (oil spill) they are doing us total damage,” he pointed out.
Petroperú reported that company personnel deployed the contingency and cleaning team to address this situation. Likewise, he explained that on Friday, December 20, during the maneuvers prior to the shipment of hydrocarbons on the POLYAIGOS ship, at the submarine terminal of the Talara Refinery, the presence of hydrocarbons was detected while the movement was being carried out on the submarine line, proceeding to control the situation immediately and all operations were suspended.
