During oil spill response efforts at the La Pampilla refinery complex near Lima, Peru, a further eight barrels of oil leaked into the sea.
The initial spill took place on January 15 when powerful wave action, due to the volcanic eruption and tsunami event in Tonga, hit the coast of Peru.
At that time, the tanker Mare Doricum was unloading a shipment of Brazilian crude oil at one of the La Pampilla refinery’s offshore mooring buoys. As a result, some of the cargo was released, and local officials estimate that the total came to about 6,000 barrels.
The spill polluted miles of beaches and ecological preserves near Lima, making Peru’s foreign ministry declare it the “worst ecological disaster” in the city’s history.
Now, local media report that a second release occurred at the site of the first spill. In a statement, Repsol acknowledged that more oil had entered the water, but said that the release should not be classified as a “new oil spill.”
During the work carried out on the infrastructure located 18 meters below the surface of the sea, a controlled upwelling of remnants of the spill on January 15 was generated. These works are carried out based on the procedure approved by the competent authority and are part of the investigation. Terminal Multibuoys 2 has been inoperative since January 15, so it is ruled out that it is a new oil spill
The company also added that some amount of leakage had been anticipated, and containment booms and other equipment had already been deployed around the site.
