New Oil Company Enters Failed Block 64, Again | Amazon Watch
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New Oil Company Enters Failed Block 64, Again

Achuar and Wampis communities are mobilizing against Petroperú’s intention to exploit the northern Peruvian oil block

February 8, 2022 | Andrew E. Miller | Eye on the Amazon

Photo credit: Amazon Watch

If you have followed Amazon Watch’s campaigns over the years, the name Block 64 might ring a bell. Over the course of almost 30 years, the Peruvian government has encouraged a steady parade of international oil companies to explore and exploit the oil concession, located near the border with Ecuador. All have hit a major obstacle: the vehement opposition of Indigenous peoples, specifically the Achuar People of the Pastaza River and the Wampis Nation. Well-resourced oil companies like Occidental Petroleum, Talisman Energy, and most recently Chile-based GeoPark have invested millions of dollars and ultimately failed to get the project off the ground.

In the wake of this past year’s global climate summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently tweeted, “No expansion in oil and gas exploration.” Notwithstanding the growing global recognition of the need to transition away from fossil fuels, Peru is one of many governments that continue to subsidize the industry and promote new projects. President Pedro Castillo praised the return of the national oil company, Petroperú, to oil production. In a public statement at the end of 2021, he announced that Petroperú had initiated production in one area and would soon expand into oil operations in the Amazon region.

Block 64 is now in the eye of Petroperú, which hasn’t been in the oil extraction business for three decades. The company has focused on commercialization – you can find Petroperú gas stations around the country – while operating the decrepit Northern Peruvian Pipeline that regularly ruptures and spills in the rainforest. Following years of spills, protests, and unceremonious departures of international companies, there are few prospects for new partners. In this context, Petroperú is gearing up to move into actual drilling and pumping oil.

The government and Petroperú have a strong economic impetus to expand oil production. They invested a reported $5.72 billion dollars in the remodeled Talara oil refinery, including some $1.3 billion invested from Citigroup on a project financing term loan. This modernization project has increased Talara’s refining capacity to 95,000 barrels of oil per day. Where will this crude oil come from? The government hopes to exploit the Peruvian Amazon, in areas such as Block 64.

The Peruvian national mood, however, might be turning away from expanded oil production. Though oil spills have been polluting Amazonian Indigenous communities for decades, a major spill off the coast of Lima in mid-January has brought the negative impacts of the industry to the doorsteps of capital city residents. Community protests have been a regular feature in recent weeks and media coverage has been constant, only recently overtaken by the resignation of ministers and the renewal of the presidential cabinet.

Back in the northern Peruvian Amazon, the government’s oil agency Perupetro invited dozens of Indigenous communities to attend a meeting on Friday, February 11 in the provincial town of San Lorenzo. The stated objective was to ‘present the new operator of Block 64’ to affected communities within and around the concession. In response to the meeting announcement, the Achuar federation FENAP issued a public denunciation, calling on the Public Prosecutor for the Prevention of Crimes to stop Perupetro from convening a meeting that could be a COVID-19 super-spreader event. We’ve since learned that the meeting has in fact been canceled, ostensibly on health grounds.

Even though the information session won’t be carried out now, the intention of the Peruvian government is clear and Indigenous communities are re-mobilizing in protection of their collective rights. FENAP also published a second denunciation against Perupetro’s interest in Block 64, translated below into English. Alongside the Wampis Nation, which also published a statement, the Achuar remain adamant in their opposition to oil operations and the inevitable ecological, cultural, and spiritual damage that would ensue. The Peruvian authorities would be well advised to cease and desist before learning first hand why Occidental, Talisman, and GeoPark were unable to impose their will on local peoples who stand fiercely in defense of their territories. 

​​​​PUBLIC NOTICE TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF PERU, MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINES, PERUPETRO AND PETROPERÚ:

PROHIBITION OF ENTRY AND REJECTION OF OIL OPERATIONS IN BLOCK 64 DUE TO LACK OF PRIOR CONSULTATION AND REMEDIATION OF OIL SPILLS AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITIES

Given the announcement by President Pedro Castillo Terrones about the start of operations by PETROPERÚ in Block 64 on 12/27/2021, through a televised press conference; and the call from PERUPETRO to our communities for a face-to-face meeting of “Citizen Participation” in the city of San Lorenzo on 02/11/2022, through the Official Letter GSGA-0080-2022, in order to “present PETROPERÚ as the new operator of Block 64”;

The Achuar People of Pastaza, an Indigenous or native people of the Amazon represented by the Federation of the Achuar Nationality of Peru (FENAP); consisting of 49 Achuar communities and five basin organizations (ATI, AIM, ORACH, FEAISY and ORAIM); with an ancestral territory located between the Huasaga, Huituyacu, Manchari and Morona basins, in the districts of Andoas, Morona and Pastaza, of the Datem del Marañón province, and with legal personality recognized by Regional Executive Resolution No. 253-2018- GRL-P of 06.25.2018 issued by the Regional Government of Loreto;

NOTIFIES the President of the Republic of Perú, MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINING, PERUPETRO, PETROPERÚ, and all oil companies, of the following JURISDICTIONAL DECISION of the Achuar People of Pastaza (FENAP):

  1. We reiterate the prohibition of carrying out any oil exploration or exploitation activity in Block 64, overlapping with two thirds of our ancestral territory and established without free, prior, informed consultation and consent, therefore it is null and void.
  2. We prohibit PERUPETRO and PETROPERÚ, and the companies or persons they delegate, from entering our territory and gathering members of our communities on 02/10/2022, in order to take them to San Lorenzo for the  “citizen participation” meeting, given that this has not been previously consulted or agreed with FENAP and violates the recommendations given by the IACHR (Res. 01-2020) to refrain from promoting extractive projects given the impossibility of conducting face-to-face consultations “during the period the pandemic may last,” according to the recommendations of the WHO, so as not to risk to the integrity of our communities. Companies or individuals who do not abide by these decisions are subject to the Indigenous jurisdiction of FENAP.
  3. We reiterate the demand to the Peruvian State to remedy the oil spills caused by the oil activity in the community of Chuintar and other environmental liabilities left in our territory; as well as to decontaminate the waters and to attend to the comprehensive health of our People.

WE REQUEST the Peruvian Office of the Ombudsman and the Peruvian Congress, in the process of coordination, to inspect the Minister of Energy and Mines, the president of PERUPETRO and PETROPERÚ for the facts described, which violate our autonomy, the right of free, prior, and informed consultation and consent, and put our life and integrity at risk; so that they stop carrying out such violations and respect our rights.

WE REQUEST the Peruvian Prosecution Office, in the process of coordination, to intervene according to their powers before the Minister of Energy and Mining, the president of PERUPETRO and the general manager of PETROPERÚ, for abuse of authority, violation of sanitary measures, and for putting at risk the life and integrity of our People, according to the facts described.

WE REQUEST the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to urge the Peruvian government not to continue violating recommendation No. 57 of the Resolution 01/2020 “Pandemic and Human Rights in the Americas” of 04/10/2020, according to its functions and based on articles 41 and 43 of the American Convention on Human Rights.

Datem Del Marañón, San Lorenzo, January 20, 2022

(English translation of FENAP statement – original in Spanish available here)

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