British oil company in Amazon 'double trouble'
January 16, 2009
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An Anglo-French oil company has run into trouble in the remote Amazon jungle following an OPEC ruling and concerns about uncontacted tribes in one of the regions where it is working.
Just days after the company, Perenco, announced its plans to invade uncontacted tribes’ territory in Peru, the government in neighbouring Ecuador suspended the company’s activities in order to comply with new OPEC cuts.
Perenco’s work in Peru, believed to be the biggest oil discovery in the country for 30 years, has attracted fierce criticism from local Indigenous organizations and even an appeal to Latin America’s top human rights body on the grounds that it violates the rights and threatens the lives of uncontacted tribes who live there.
Perenco claims the tribes don’t exist and plans to invest more money – $350 million – than any other company in Peru this year.
Perenco’s work in Ecuador was suspended in response to cuts by OPEC in an attempt to stabilize international prices for crude oil. The company’s activities in the country are reported to have attracted thousands of protesters – leading to blockades of a Perenco installation and an airport, and violent conflict involving the firing of rubber bullets and tear gas which left at least two people injured.
Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘OPEC and uncontacted tribes make an unlikely pair, but whoever or whatever the cause these are difficult times for Perenco. They are suspended in Ecuador, and there are calls for the suspension of their work in Peru too. The company must recognise that sending hundreds of workers into the territory of isolated Indians in Peru is a foolhardy thing to do.’
