New Oil Spill Affects Ecuadorian Ecosystems
Oil spill on the Coca-Taracoa highway. April 17, 2025. X/ @LaDefensaEc
April 18, 2025 Hour: 1:32 pm
Authorities confirmed the event after citizens posted videos showing how the crude oil was spreading across a road.
On Thursday, the state-owned company Petroecuador confirmed that a pipeline rupture caused a new oil spill on a highway in the Amazonian province of Orellana.
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The spill took place on Wednesday. However, authorities confirmed the incident hours later, after citizens posted several videos showing how the crude oil was spreading across the road and nearby areas.
Petroecuador stated that the pipeline damage and resulting spill occurred due to the impact of a privately owned lowboy-type vehicle that was traveling through the area.
“We activated the contingency plan, the pipeline was repaired, and crude oil recovery efforts are being carried out using specialized safety, health, and environmental equipment, as well as a vacuum truck,” the state-owned company said, specifying that the spill had been monitored overnight.
Currently, Petroecuador and the Ministry of the Environment are jointly assessing the magnitude of the oil spill and its potential consequences.
On March 13, another rupture occurred in the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE) near the municipality of Quininde, in the province of Esmeraldas on Ecuador’s coast.
The incident caused a spill of over 25,000 barrels of oil and contaminated major rivers, which forced a suspension of the drinking water supply in the city of Esmeraldas and other nearby communities. So far, however, the assessment of the actual number of barrels spilled has not been completed.
On Monday, the United Nations warned that the Esmeraldas spill left 150,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance and exposed to respiratory and stomach-related illnesses.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: Petroecuador – teleSUR
