(Piedra Fina) Authorities in Ecuador were trying to contain a major oil spill on an oil pipeline in a region of the Amazon jungle on Sunday, where a river threatens to be polluted, we learned from concordant sources.
Posted at 2:38 p.m.
Heavy rains caused landslides and rockfalls at the end of the week, leading to the rupture of a crude oil transport pipeline in the Piedra Fina area.
The incident took place on Friday at the border between the provinces of Napo and Sucumbios, on this 485-kilometer pipeline, which crosses four provinces, and is operated by the private company OCP (Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados).
To date, neither the government nor the OCP have indicated the quantity of oil spilled in nature.
According to the government, the landslide affected “four pipes of the infrastructure”, which transports 160,000 barrels of crude a day from oil wells in the middle of the jungle in the northeast of the country.
PHOTO NICOLAS MAINVILLE/AMAZON FRONTLI, VIA REUTERS
In a tweet broadcast on Sunday, the Ministry of the Environment said “to verify that emergency, cleaning and sanitation activities in the affected area are continuing correctly”. “Our technical staff continues to be deployed in the Piedra Fina area.”
The day before, the authorities warned that the pollution could reach “the vicinity of the Coca River and possibly nearby water reserves”, on which several indigenous communities depend.
“So far, no effect has been observed in water abstraction points intended for human consumption,” the authorities said.
The OCP also announced that “the pumping of crude oil has been stopped as a precaution, and that it will be restored when the appropriate conditions are met”.
The emergency operations committee of the province of Napo explained that it had intervened to distribute drinking water to the inhabitants of the area.
The government released footage of the leak, as well as response work, with trucks and bulldozers attempting to climb earthen palisades. These images show oil-covered rocks and a black slick amid vegetation.
“Containment actions have been initiated to prevent any environmental damage, and crude oil containment ponds have been constructed to prevent any type of impact on water sources,” OCP explained.