Quito, June 27 (EFE).- The Ecuadorian oil company Petroecuador confirmed this Thursday the rupture of a crude oil transportation pipeline in a peripheral area of the Yasuní National Park (in the northeast of the country), as well as a toxic spill that has reached to the Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon.
Petroecuador indicated in a statement that an “environmental event” was recorded in the so-called Block 16, in a sector of the Yasuní National Park, in the Amazon province of Orellana, as well as the “unexpected rupture of an oil pipeline,” which was immediately attended to by personnel from the state company.
At the site, “containment barriers have been placed to stop the advance of the hydrocarbon and preventive barriers were installed to protect the water bodies surrounding the Napo River,” the source added after stating that with these actions this “event was controlled.”
However, he said that on Tuesday there was heavy rainfall in the area, which caused “part of the hydrocarbon contained in the barriers to be dragged towards the Napo River.”
“Additional barriers are currently being placed to prevent traces of hydrocarbons from advancing into rivers and thus minimize the impacts” of the incident, Petroecuador added.
The state-owned company has not yet reported on the quantity of hydrocarbon that has been spilled due to the rupture of the pipeline and the remobilization of the material due to the heavy rains.
The company added that it is in constant contact with the indigenous communities affected by the spill and noted that members of these populations have supported the first mitigation responses to the incidents.
Some of these residents have acted as guides, drivers of small boats or as labourers for companies contracted by the state oil company, the source added.
He also indicated that a Petroecuador emergency response team is on site to provide the necessary support for contingency efforts.
Block 16 is located in the Yasuní National Park, and since 2023 it has been operated by Petroecuador, after the Government chose not to extend the service contracts with Petrolia, a subsidiary of the Canadian New Stratus Energy (NSE), nor to change the modality. contractual to participation contracts.
Since then, production from Block 16 and the adjacent Block 67 has declined from about 15,000 barrels per day to about 10,000 barrels per day.
The extraction and export of crude oil is one of the main sources of foreign currency income for Ecuador, a country that extracts some 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily. EFE
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