Peru sues Spain’s Repsol for $ 4.5 billion over massive January oil spill

Peru has filed suit against Spanish energy company Repsol over the massive January oil spill that ravaged its coast, seeking $ 4.5 billion in damages.

The lawsuit was filed before the 27th civil court in Lima against six companies: Repsol ( Spain), Mapfre Global Risks ( Spain), Mapfre Peru Insurance and Reinsurance Companies ( Peru), La Pampilla Refinery ( Peru), Transtotal Maritime Agency ( Peru) and Fratelli d’amico Armatori ( Italy, owner of the tanker involved), Peru’s consumer protection agency said.

“These suits could create precedents for oil spills that cause damage and collective non- material damages due to environmental pollution of coastal areas,” said Julian Palacin, executive director of the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property ( INDECOPI), in a statement released late Friday.

INDECOPI has sought $ 3 billion for environmental damage to Peru’s coast, and another $ 1.5 billion as compensation to consumers, locals and others affected by the disaster, the suit says.

Repsol in a statement Saturday rejected the suit as baseless.

“[ INDECOPI’s] estimates are lacking the bare minimum needed to support the indicated figures,” the Spanish oil company said, regarding the $ 4.5 billion sought by Peru.

The spill occurred on January 15 while the Italian- flagged tanker Mare Doricum was unloading crude oil at the Repsol- owned La Pampilla refinery in

Ventanilla, 30 kilometers north of Lima.

The oil company attributed the incident to waves caused by a massive volcanic eruption on the island of Tonga, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and the Peruvian government described it as an “ecological disaster.”