LIMA, Peru – Argentine energy producer Pluspetrol said on Friday it plans to invest up to $200 million in mainly environmental projects in Peru’s Amazon basin, after a dispute with Indians briefly froze its production.
Pluspetrol, which produces about half of Peru’s oil output from its fields in northern Peru, said the money would go toward re-injecting polluted water back into the ground, rather than into rivers, which Indians say is killing fish.
“The main investment is in mechanisms that will allow a reinjection of water … as well as in rejuvenating local land,” Norberto Benito, head of Pluspetrol in Peru, told reporters.
Achuar Indians held a 13-day blockade of Pluspetrol’s oil wells in October to demand an end to pollution they say is caused by oil production in the area.
Under an agreement that ended the blockade, Pluspetrol said it would re-inject all water from oil production by 2008.
The government has also agreed to increase social and environmental spending in the remote jungle area, diverting more tax and royalty revenue to the Achuars.
