“It looks like modelling clay and smells of tar,” says Luis Díaz, a representative of fishers from Aucayama beach, 77 kilometres north of Lima, holding a lump of darkened sand.
On 6 January, he cast his nets into the sea and pulled them back empty. “Before the spill, the biomass was very good,” he recalls. He says that high tides continue to bring in residues from the 12,000 barrels of crude oil spilled on 15 January 2022 during a maritime unloading operation at Repsol’s La Pampilla refinery. The spill spread along 64 kilometres of coastline—an area equivalent to nearly 3,400 football pitches.
Four years on, fishers are still bearing the consequences of the lack of ecosystem rehabilitation. In October 2023, at the request of the Peruvian state, Repsol submitted 18 rehabilitation plans, but the authorities have yet to approve them, citing their insufficiency.
To avoid going to trial, Repsol reached an agreement with the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office to pay €294 million, jointly with the Italian company that owns the oil tanker. The amount covers cleanup, containment and compensation costs.
In 2024, Repsol received €4.78 billion from the European Union’s Recovery Plan for ecological and digital transition.
Image by Carlos Mauriola.
