Lima, 14.05.22. Repsol has used all means at its disposal to contain, clean, and remediate the coastline, assist the communities in the area, and rescue and attend to the fauna affected by the oil spill that occurred last January 15 on the coast north of Lima.
All the information available to date leads to the conclusion that the spill was caused by the uncontrolled displacement of the Mare Doricum tanker at the time of the discharge of crude oil, which resulted in the rupture of the underwater installations.
Repsol mobilized more than 2,900 workers, deployed up to 11,000 meters of containment booms, and used 144 units of heavy machinery, nearly 90 vessels, and 68 skimmers (marine cleaning equipment). As a result of this extensive human and technical deployment based on the best international standards, on April 13 Repsol reported to the competent Peruvian authority the completion of the first response actions in 28 areas north of Lima, declaring them clean, pending the authority’s approval.
In relation to the social impact, from the outset, and at the company’s initiative, an emergency economic aid mechanism was made available to the affected population, which benefitted more than 4,600 people. Subsequently, on March 4, an agreement was signed between the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the La Pampilla Refinery, to begin delivering an advance payment against the final compensation to be agreed between the parties, on the basis of a single census of affected people agreed with the Government. So far, more than 5,500 affected people have been identified, to whom a total of more than 29 million soles has been paid out.
All these actions demonstrate Repsol’s commitment to Peruvian society and the will to return the coastline to its original state, with the maximum guarantees and in the shortest possible time span, despite not having been the cause of the spill.
The cost of the containment, cleaning, and remediation of the coastline has been assumed by Repsol from the very beginning and the aid and advance payments provided allow us to reasonably calculate the number of people affected by the spill and the estimated amount of compensation for the damages. The overall amount of these items would be around US$ 150 million.
Therefore, the claim announced by the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) is baseless, inadmissible, and inconsistent, because it does not address the causes of the spill; nor the clean-up and remediation work already completed by Repsol; nor the means established by the company to attend to those affected, through collaboration with the Peruvian Government; and because its estimates lack even the slightest basis to support the figures indicated.