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Lima, Feb 18 (EFE) .- The environmental authorities of Peru extended by ten days the authorization for oil loading and unloading operations to be carried out at the La Pampilla refinery, from where a hydrocarbon spill occurred on January 15 on the coasts of Lima and Callao.
The decision was communicated this Friday by the president of the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA), Miriam Alegría, during a press conference in which she participated together with the Minister of the Environment, Modesto Montoya.
The minister added that Repsol is currently carrying out its tasks of loading and unloading hydrocarbons “controlled by the competent authorities.”
Montoya also said that the Ministry of the Environment (Minam) “is present and active” in cleaning up the beaches contaminated by the oil spill.
The Peruvian authorities already authorized on February 4 to resume the activities of La Pampilla for ten days, which were suspended after the spill into the sea of at least 10,396 barrels of crude oil on January 15.
This stoppage included the four maritime terminals that La Pampilla has to supply crude oil, including the modern monobuoy installed in 2019, the first of its kind in the country.
It was in terminal number 2 of this type that the accident occurred that caused the environmental catastrophe that affected the beaches of Lima and Callao when the collector platform allegedly released or detached, coinciding with an unusual level of the sea due to the tsunami generated due to the volcanic eruption in Tonga.
When it authorized the temporary restart of operations at the refinery, the OEFA explained that the measure was taken “in order to guarantee the supply of crude oil, Turbo A1 and IFO/Diesel Marino/Bunker” in the country.
The decision was also announced after the embassies of France and the Netherlands expressed their concern to the Government of Peru about the supply of fuel for its airlines Air France and KLM, as a result of the supply cut after the oil spill.
Repsol, for its part, stated that it was going to collaborate with the authorities to reopen “as soon as possible” the activities in La Pampilla, which supplies 40% of the national fuel market and is the largest in the country, processing some 120,000 daily. barrels of crude
The company added this Friday that it is committed to the long-term recovery of the areas and populations affected by the spill of 10,400 barrels of oil, which affected 106 square kilometers of the Peruvian coast.
He pointed out that the cleaning tasks have already advanced to 79%, with the water almost completely clean, and that the beaches will be at the end of this month, while the tasks will conclude at the end of March in the areas of difficult access.
Alegría indicated, in this regard, that the OEFA will have “in two weeks… information to show, in percentage, on the level of surface cleaning of beaches and, later, the result of the sampling that we have been doing in parallel.”
He argued that the information reported by the company on the progress in cleaning up the sea is currently “processed” by the body he presides over and “as a supervisory authority” they are “doing their own verification in the field.”
“The identification and cleaning of affected areas, and the recovery and containment of hydrocarbons in the sea are the three measures that we have verified that the company has not complied with and, for that reason, we have initiated the corresponding legal actions,” he said.
Repsol reported this Friday that it had already paid the fines imposed by the OEFA at first, for a total of 1.38 million soles (about 372,000 dollars), for failure to identify areas affected by the spill, cleaning and containment. and hydrocarbon recovery.
(c) EFE Agency