Peru bans Repsol CPO form leaving for 18 months over oil spill
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The Spanish oil company caused a 6,000-barrel oil spill off the coast of Peru, causing irreparable damages to marine life in the sea, and the judiciary is taking action.
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Workers on a Peruvian beach clean up an oil spill caused by abnormal waves triggered by a massive underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga (AFP)
A Peruvian judge banned the head of oil company Repsol's Peru division, Jaime Fernandez Cuesta, from leaving the country following an oil spill incident.
"Judge Romualdo Aguedo has ordered a ban on leaving the country for 18 months against the head of the La Pampilla refinery, Jaime Fernandez Cuesta," the press service of the Supreme Court said Friday.
The ban came in response to the environmental prosecutor's office requesting legal action against the company that resulted in an oil spill to the north of Lima.
On January 15, an oil spill was reported at La Pampilla refinery in Callao province, north of Lima.
The oil spill followed strong waves caused by the eruption of an underwater volcano in Oceania.
The natural disaster led to an oil spill that saw about 6,000 barrels released into the ocean while they were getting unloaded from a ship at a refinery and polluted nearly 1.1 million square meters of sea.
The spill endangered the flora and fauna of two protected natural areas spanning more than 18,000 km.
The government has declared an environmental emergency. The Peruvian Foreign Ministry demanded that Spanish company Repsol pay damages.
Hundreds of fishermen protested outside Peru's biggest oil refinery following the oil spill on the Peruvian coast.
The men congregated in the province of Callao, near Lima's capital, outside the refinery, carrying a large Peruvian flag, fishing nets, and signs that read "no to ecological crime," "economically disadvantaged families," and "Repsol killer of marine fauna."
