The Spanish oil company Repsol would have to pay up to 18 million soles (4.6 million dollars) in fines if it fails to comply with a series of tasks imposed by the Peruvian authorities to clean up the oil spill that occurred on the country’s coast.
This Wednesday, at a press conference, the president of the Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Agency (OEFA), Miriam Alegría, announced that the requirement for the imposition of the coercive fine has already begun, because the oil company “has not complied with the first measure imposed”, which consisted of “the identification of the affected areas, the containment and recovery of the hydrocarbon” spilled.
Alegría also indicated that on January 26 the deadline for the second block of measures would end, arranged for “the purpose of carrying out the conservation, custody and rescue of the fauna that has been affected in the protected natural areas.”
The total value of the fines
This Thursday “the field verification will be carried out, and if we identify that the company has not complied, we will also initiate the requirement to impose the coercive fine,” he added. In addition, the president of the OEFA clarified that “the fines range up to 4,000 Tax Units, which are equivalent to 18 million soles (about 4.6 million dollars)”.
The Chief of Staff of the Coast Guard Operations Command of the Peruvian Navy, Jesús Menacho, confirmed this Wednesday a second oil spill on the coast of the Peruvian district of Ventanilla, affected on January 15 by the discharge of some 6,000 fuel barrels.
For its part, Repsol assures that it is “collaborating closely” with civil society and the Peruvian authorities “to advance as quickly as possible in the remediation of the areas affected by the oil spill.” In addition, the oil company denied that there had been a new spill of crude oil in the sea of Callao, and indicated that it was a “controlled outcrop of remnants” of the previous spill.
