In more ways in one. The national company is in massive debt having spent $6.5 billion on a new refinery. The government has bailed out the company three times with injections of cash, the lat one amounted to $1.3 billion. Its financial statement from 2023 showed losses of $822 million. The companies dire straits have raised concern it might collapse and be unable to perform its pollution clean up requirements.
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| bags of contaminated soil remain undisposed |
To say Petroperu is not a good corporate citizen is an understatement. it has been hit with 154 fines from the state's energy regulator, and 61 times with administrative measures from the environment ministry. Since 2020 the company has been responsible for 191 recorded oil spills in the Amazon, second to Pluspetrol, another state company that has 394 spills to its discredit. The government is loath to impose severe penalties on its petrochemical companies, which own millions in assets and make a significant contribution to the nation's economy. The companies often prefer to ignore or pay fines because it is cheaper than remediation costs. [photo credit: O. Bisa Tirko[
So the Amazon continues to be polluted by oil exploration. Remediations sites are left untended or half completed. Indigenous people say the smell of oil is pervasive, and if you poke a stick into the ground the Earth exudes oil waste. Lot 192, formerly Lot 1AB, is a good example of the situation. One of the oldest sites of production and the greatest number of spills in the.country After 54 years of production the cost of cleaning up the mess is estimated at $5.5 million. Now owned by Petroperu the lot changed hands four times without any of the predecessors in interest taking steps to remediate the contamination. Now, the company may not be able to pay the enormous cost, if if it wanted to.