Report of Pipeline Spill in Chillinga, Ayacucho

Peru's Coordinadora Nacional de Radio is reporting a new break in the Camisea pipeline occurring Tuesday morning in the La Mar province of Ayacucho. Authorities from the community of Chillinga, 40 km from the District of San Miguel claim that the rupture has caused the spill of "a large amount of hydrocarbons."

A recent technical audit of the pipeline's integrity was recently completed by the company Germanischer Lloyd, which found that the contract between the government and pipeline consortium, TGP, did not allow for adequate analysis of the terrain and that the pipeline was insufficiently designed and welded. The audit found that proper geological studies would have taken 2-3 years to complete and that TGP dedicated only 2-3 months to this work.

Community Members Sickened by Gas in Lower Urubamba

On September 10th the native community Chocoriari and the Tupac Amaru colonist settlement reported cases of community members being sickened by a supposed gas escape at km 12.100 of the Camisea pipeline. Four people were stricken with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and three were taken away for medical attention. Community members claim that this was cased by a new pipeline spill. TGP responded saying that it was caused by a normal release of one of the pipeline valves. Rafael Guarderas, TGP's Manager of Institutional Relations, instilled confidence with the statement, "It is a small balloon of gas and the valve is several kilometers away. There is a family within 300 meters, but the rest is desolate jungle."
More in Andina and CPN Radio Peru.

Cusco Government Declares State of Emergency in Kumpirishiato

On June 5, 2007, the Natural Resources Bureau of the Cusco regional government declared a State of Emergency for the Kumpirishiato watershed because of the spills from the Camisea pipeline. Kumpirishiato is the site of the pipeline's most recent spill on April 2, 2007 at km 125. According to a government official, the measure was taken to draw the attention of the federal government in order to address the urgent ecological crisis in the area. On June 12, a Cusco government commission, headed by Regional President, Hugo Gonzáles Sayán will visit the affected region. Cusco government official, Abel Caballero Osorio, cited in an article on the website of the Coordinadora National de Radio, raised concerns that TGP was violating Peruvian law by pumping 120,000 barrels of gas per day, exceeding the limit of 37,000 barrels.

Camisea Protesters Block Road to Quillabamba, Threaten to Take Over Pipeline

Protesters in the province of La Convención have launched an indefinite blockade of the road between the provincial capital of Quillabamba and Cusco, closing access to the town and leaving scores of vehicles stranded. All businesses and public institutions in the Province are closed due the marching of thousands of protesters, led by the provincial mayor and nine district mayors, who are demanding accountability for the pipeline's six spills and benefits for the local population.

On Tuesday, May 22, more than 1,500 residents of Kiteni and Kepashiato peacefully marched to a pumping station at km 125 of the Camisea pipeline, the location of the latest spill, where they were encountered by police and TGP's private security. Community members presented a document to the company, demanding that it pay damages for the spills and that Peru's Energy Minister, Juan Valdivia, visit the region.

The protest was originally planned to last 72 hours, but on May 23, organizers decided to extend the blockade indefinitely until the federal government sends ministers to the region. They also said that they were prepared to take over the pipeline and block access to the tourist destination, Machu Picchu, if the government did not respond.

In addition to demanding accountability for the pipeline spills, protesters are calling for the construction of a pipeline connecting the gas reserves to Quillabamba, the improvement of roads in the region, and the declaration of a state of emergency in the Convention.

More in: La Republica, Andina

More on 6th Pipeline Spill

A segment on the program Reporte Semanal on Chanel 2 covers the latest spill, visiting the place where it occurred in Kepashiato. According to TGP, the latest spill amounted to 36 gallons, while the regional government has reported a loss of 4,000 barrels. The reporter visited colonist and Machiguenga communities where there found that people do not know what to do in the case of a pipeline spill. He also interviewed community members who reported that fish stocks have virtually disappeared since the project began, a claim that TGP denies. Bill Powers, an engineer with E-Tech International was also interviewed in the segment in which he voices serious concerns with the quality of the pipeline welds, stating that the 1st and 2nd pipeline ruptures were weld-related, the 3rd caused by soil movement, and the data on the 4th and 5th spills has not yet been released by OSINERG. TGP maintains that none of the spills were the result of improper welding or poor quality pipe.
Video of the segment (in Spanish).


An article on the new spill in Caretas, describes a tense situation in the community of Kepashiato, in which TGP snuck the damaged piece of pipe away to Lima in a helicopter, despite the protests of community members demanding an investigation.

Pipeline Suffers 6th Rupture

On April 3, 2007, TGP reported to the press that it had detected an "anomaly" in the liquid gas pipeline at kilometer 125 in the community of Kepashiato in the Cumpirishiato Valley. The company categorized the situation as "under control" saying that it was only a "bubble" (burbujeo) and that it had caused no environmental or social damage.

However according to the Associated Press, a technical commission from the regional government in Cusco visited the area on April 6th and found that a spill had indeed occurred. The commission accused TGP of downplaying the incident. It found and estimated 4,000 barrels of gas had leaked into the surrounding soil and streams in a radius of 300 meters, directly affecting at least 200 families. The local population asked for the government to declare a state of emergency.

The spill was only 500 meters from where the pipeline broke in March 2006, causing explosions and setting a home on fire. According the to the technical commission's report, It occurred on April 2, 2007 at approximately 2:00 pm but TGP did not alert residents living only 10 minutes away until the following day.

In an article published by La Republica, Peru's College of Engineers accused TGP and the Ministry of Energy and Mines of not telling the truth and putting the country's energy matrix at risk by not stopping production and making long-term fixes to the leaky pipe.

E-Tech Questions TGP's Latest Pipeline Report

Peru's news daily, La Primera, has an interview with E-Tech International engineer, Bill Powers who shares his skepticism of TGP's latest report on the status of the Camisea Pipeline. He accuses TGP of placing the blame for multiple pipeline spills on mother nature while having not taken the time to adequately control erosion during pipeline construction. He also says that TGP's "intelligent pigging" tests are not capable of detecting the fundamental problem of substandard welding - a problem that requires radiography to identify.

Power's also questioned how the firm Germanisher Lloyd, which has been contracted by the Peruvian government to perform a technical audit of the pipeline, would be able to carry out a proper field assessment during the height of the rainy season in the Amazon.

Rigzone reports that TGP will invest an additional $85 million in the pipeline in 2007. It quotes TGP General Manager, Ricardo Ferreiro, as saying that "The pipeline is in perfect condition" and that their testing has found only 30 small scratches or dents in the pipeline.

Dead Fish Prompt Rumors of New Camisea Spill

As of June 6, 2006, several communications have come from organizations working in the Lower Urubamba including the Machiguenga council, COMARU and the Escuela para el Desarrollo have reported evidence of some contaminant in the Camisea River that has been killing fish. The Community Monitoring Program (PMAC) has not yet issued a report. Pluspetrol has evidently denied that there has been any spill and has blamed the fish deaths on the use of the toxic plant barbasco for fishing in one of the Camisea's tributaries in the community of Segakiato. Tensions are apparently high between the company and the communities, and the latter are calling for independent experts to come and assess the reason for the fish dye-off. The communities are reporting a contaminant much stronger than the traditionally-used barbasco.

Built to Spill

Chip Mitchell has a good article on the project in the Texas Observer. It describes problems with the pipeline and gives some background on Hunt Oil and its ties to the Bush campaign.

“A project of this size can expect to have some challenges,” says Jeanne Phillips, the company’s senior vice president of corporate affairs and international relations, who chaired President Bush’s 2005 inaugural committee.

We’re not worried,” says Phillips, the Hunt vice president. “We’re working with the IDB and many nongovernmental organizations to ensure that the Peru LNG project is very aggressive and progressive on the environmental front as well as the social-responsibility front.”

Not sure which NGO's Phillips is referring to.