Responsibility in La Pampilla Refinery extensive to the Repsol Group

This Congress of the Republic release was published using machine translation.

The Investigative Commission of the oil spill in Ventanilla approved its final report, charged to the editorial staff, finding responsibility in the La Pampilla Refinery, extensive to the Repsol Group.

Margot Palacios (PL), president of the investigative commission, referred to the series of inconveniences they faced to expedite their work, made difficult by the political situation that did not allow them to count on all the people involved.

The conclusions of the investigative commission indicate that the main responsibility for the spill falls on the company Refinería La Pampilla SAA, extending it to the Repsol Group to which it belongs, through Repsol Peru, in its capacity as majority shareholder.

It did not report that it had deficiencies in the execution of its contingency plan and deficiencies in its early warning mechanism. In addition, it presented false information about the volume of the impacts and all of this contributed to the fact that timely actions were not taken in response to the disaster.

Another of the conclusions reached, details that the spilled hydrocarbons had been purchased by the La Pampilla SAA Refinery from Repsol Trading SA and the latter purchases Buzio crude from Petrobras Global Trading, the company being Fratelli D Amico Armatori (owner of the tanker ) the carrier of Buzio crude. Consequently, they consider that the indicated companies are responsible, directly or indirectly, for the damage to the ecology and geographic biodiversity of the area.

Margot Palacios commented that the report determines that crimes typified in Art.304 of the Penal Code, Environmental Pollution and Art.314-B of the Penal Code, Liability for False Information, would have been incurred. As well as infringing legal regulations such as legislative decrees, supreme decrees and directorial resolutions and bad practices in unloading logistics operations.

The report also considers that if there had been timely communication to the authorities, a greater impact on the ecosystem would have been avoided; however, the La Pampilla SAA Refinery company indicated at all times that it had a controlled spill and that they activated their contingency plan immediately.

In addition, it is pointed out that the inaccurate information about the buzio crude oil spill reported by Relapasa to the authorities, is repeated with the conduct adopted in 2013 in a similar event of oil spill at the Multiboyas terminal number 2. This caused another delayed response with more serious damages.

The crude oil spill on January 15, 2022, was considered the worst ecological disaster on the Peruvian coasts that has occurred in history since the creation of the La Pampilla Refinery to date, affecting a vast, productive sea with a high diversity of phytoplankton. , zooplankton, algae and marine fauna, we consider all the impacts generated as an ecological crime and an attack against humanity, having affected not only the biodiversity of Peru but also the biodiversity of the world.

In another of the conclusions, it is stated that the company RELAPASAA informed the Agency for Environmental Evaluation and Fiscalization (OEFA) that the event of the hydrocarbon spill at the Multiboyas Port Terminal No. 2 had been controlled, which was unrelated to the truth. On the other hand, it also did not report that it had deficiencies in the matter of the execution of its contingency plan and that there were deficiencies in the activation of its early warning mechanisms.

Likewise, RELAPASAA as an operator did not fulfill its functions with regard to the port protection and security management systems, the port terminal is responsible for complying with the procedures and actions established in the respective protection plans, internal regulations and emergency plan, to address the different risks and threats that arise in the port terminal, among others.

Legislator Ruth Luque, from Cambio Democrático – Juntos Por el Perú, made some observations on the form and substance of the approved document, requesting that the responsibilities, which she finds widespread, be classified and personalized in the final report. He also requested that it be expanded on the issue of consequences of the oil spill in Ventanilla, the damages, in addition to environmental, were social and economic, he warned.

Along the same lines, legislator Arturo Alegría (FP) observed that the commission had not been able to meet more quickly and that more time was not granted to contribute on the final wording of the same. The recommendations are quite broad; These would have to generate legislative initiatives based on the conclusions so that similar events do not happen again, he said.

Margot Palacios maintained, in her capacity as president, that there was little participation of its members in the investigative commission, recalling that the work started in the previous legislature was resumed.