Between Between 2015 and 2022, in eight years, at least 23 environmental incidents were recorded, including spills, spills, leaks and even fires at Unit 43 ITT. This is according to letters exchanged between the staff of the Ministry of Environment and the state company Petroecuador (Petroamazonas). The documents, to which the members of the Yasunidos collective had access, and which they shared with this newspaper, reveal on the one hand that there were a number of environmental problems, but also that there was control by the authorities responsible for environmental protection.

From Of the reported incidents, fourteen were spills, seven were spills, one was a leak and one was a fire. Spills and spills include crude oil and diesel, among others 10 gallons and 4.5 barrels, depending on the occasion and place where the problems occurred. Several reported incidents occurred in The Tiputini and Tambococha platforms and the Tiputini and Tambococha processing plants, as well as in the Embarque Miranda sandstone area.

This information, which appears in the official documentation, although it refers to small quantities, contradicts what the authorities of Petroecuador have stated these days, in the sense that no spill has been recorded for ten years. These days, the debate has started again about whether or not it is advantageous for the state from a fiscal and ecological point of view to keep the crude oil remaining in block 43 ITT on land. And this in the light of the public consultation that will be held on August 20 with the question: “Do you agree that the Government should keep the ITT oil, known as Block 43, underground indefinitely?”

Generally, those who reject the question are They do not consider that the country would lose an important economic income ($1,200 million per year) since the block is in full production, but they also indicate that Yes, an environmentally friendly operation was carried out. On the other hand, the promoters of the consultation and Da, among them the ecological collective Yasunidos, say that there is a very important impact both on the environmental issue and on the uncontacted peoples, and for this reason they ask for the exploitation to stop.

For Pablo Piedra, from the collective El sur por el Yasuní, Petroecuador is an opaque industry that hides information, he says they have always prevented independent observers from accessing block 43. “Petroecuador has been opaque about what is going on.” For him, this information has its value, but it would only be the tip of the ball, and he emphasizes that there were contradictions in Petroecuador’s discourse and that he did not reveal what was happening, for example, when they indicate that they were not built roads but ecological paths, when in reality they are large corrosion approaches; when he says it involves the highest technology, and that would be cost-effectively unfeasible.

In the meantime, Petroecuador has acknowledged – through a statement – that it is in compliance with legal regulations on environmental protection, lThe company has always informed the Environmental Protection Agency, in a transparent and immediate way, about all operational events that occurred within Block 43, in the Ishpingo, Tiputini and Tambococha (ITT) fields, which were timely controlled and managed.

According to the law, all operational events must be reported within a maximum of 24 hours, the company has always respected this deadline. There are no products of any kind thrown away or lost in the environment.

The company also announced that the aforementioned events took place within facilities that have protections, adaptations and work guarantees, without any impact on the environment or communities. It is so from the beginning of the operation 26 operating events were reported to the Environmental Protection Administration whose management has been concluded, according to the verification of employees of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Water and Ecological Transition physically and permanently present in Block 43.

EP Petroecuador indicated that “in accordance with the highest standards of the oil industry in the country, with technological and constructive innovations. Practices that inspired the current regulatory model of the Environment Agency for the hydrocarbon sector”.