The deadline for Petroecuador to comply with the closure of wells near population centers expires in five days, according to a ruling by the Sucumbíos court in a case won by nine Amazonian women plaintiffs. This is how the debate about this process has intensified these days, because while the public company claims to have complied with the extinguished 112 lighters, the experts and the affected themselves doubt the technical and environmental solutions that were applied in this case.

Nine Amazonian girls won the case claiming that these lighters violated their health and environmental rights, as many of their parents suffer from cancer, a consequence of living near oil infrastructure.

The problem arises at a time when the tender for the selection of a private company in charge of gas collection failed due to problems created by the state company itself.

On Thursday, the manager(s) of Petroecuador, María Elisa Soledispa, reported that 112 lighters of the following blocks have already been extinguished:

He also explained that the gas is used in electricity generation and heating systems to increase the temperature in the crude oil dehydration process.

Meanwhile, Confeniae said that the deadline for the government of Guillermo Lasso to comply with a court ruling ordering the removal of lighters near populated areas is due to expire in a few days. The aforementioned ruling also states that the rest of the 447 lighters must be eliminated by 2030.

Julio Prieto, lawyer in a minor case, Petroecuador on March 30 will already violate the sentence. Prieto believes that the penalty was not respected, because on the one hand lighters that were not already in use were included or they diverted gas from certain burners to other larger burners, which still causes contamination.

An oil technician with 30 years of experience in the private and public oil sector, Eduardo Benalcázar believes that turning off the lighter is not a suitable alternative in a country that wants to continue producing crude oil. He also believes that Petroecuador could have used three options to extinguish the 112 lighters.

Meanwhile, Prieto assured that on March 28, that is, in four days, there will be a hearing in the court of Sucumbíos to determine compliance with the sentence. At the same time, he said, the parties will present their arguments, but the prosecutor will present arguments for which he believes that the judgment has not been executed. He reminded that a protective lawsuit has been initiated before the Constitutional Court, because this scenario has already been announced. Prieto believes that the problem is that the judgment in which the girl plaintiffs were right was very imprecise and, for example, did not define what is meant by lighters near or near cities. For Petroecuador, that would mean 150 meters, but he says the technique dictates that the nearest lighter is the one 1,500 meters away. He also reminded that with that sentence, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Health was ordered to act in accordance with a series of plans and studies that were also not fulfilled.

“What we see is that Petroecuador is not exploiting the gas, but counted those that were not in use and those that were 150 meters away, that is, it applied the law of least effort,” he said. He also warned of the danger that Petroecuador could release gas.