The leakage occurred through damage to the oil -private oil system by landslide. The emergency will allow faster sending units of aid.
On Sunday, the Ecuadorian authorities declared an environmental emergency situation as a result of oil leakage, which contaminated the Esmeraldas River in the same province in the northwest of the country. Informed DPA, writes TASR.
The oil leakage occurred last Thursday, when in the El Vergel area in the Esmeraldas river basin burst part of the transcendary pipe system (Sote). The authorities have announced that it was caused by landslides after hearty downpours.
Minister of Energy Innes Manzan said that the state of emergency will simplify the earnings of financial resources and the posting of specialized teams. Their task will be to “alleviate the consequences of leakage (oil) in this area.”
Manzan has assured that water quality would be monitored, as well as removal as a result of the accident by the State Oil Petroecuado, which is currently working on harvesting leaked petroleums. The total extent of pollution is not yet known.
Ecuador produced 475,000 barrels of oil a day last year, of which 72 percent exported. Sote is the most widely used oil system in a country with a capacity for transporting 360,000 barrels a day on the 500 -kilometer -long route from the Amazon to the Pacific Coast.
