Oil spilled from Petroecuador’s Trans-Ecuador pipeline after a May 31 landslide in the Andean foothills has reached the Peruvian Amazon.
The landslide that destroyed a 330-foot section of the pipeline is blamed on heavy rain in the province of Sucumbios near the El Reventador Volcano, one of Ecuador’s most active volcanoes.
The broken pipeline spilled some 11,000 barrels, or 420,000 gallons, of crude oil into the Quijos River, a well-known whitewater adventure river on the eastern slopes of the Andes.
The oil was carried east into the River Coca, a tributary of the Napo River, which flows into the Amazon River.
The oil has polluted drinking water in the city of Puerto Francisco de Orellana, also known as Coca, a city of 80,000 and the capital of Orellana Province. Clean water is being supplied by tanker truck.
Petroecuador has also distributed food rations and cans of drinking water to the residents of 13 other Ecuadorean communities affected by the spill.
The spilled oil has now reached the Peruvian Amazon region of Loreto, and, hundreds of miles away, Brazil has been put “on alert” to watch for the oil slick.
Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal called the spill a “very serious problem.” Peru could seek financial compensation, “but first we have to look at the extent of the problem,” he told the newspaper “El Comercio.”
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has apologized to Peru “for the problems we have caused.”
Petroecuador says crews have managed to contain the spread of the oil slick on a part of the River Coca and on the bottom of the river, where they have placed oil containment barriers.
The Ecuadorian government said it has taken all necessary steps to mitigate the accident.