If the rewards associated with the successful recovery of commercial deposits of oil and gas can realize both meaningful economic and social transformation for beneficiary countries, the risk of mishaps that could amount to nothing short of protracted crisis are ever present, as some of the world’s major oil spill-related occurrences have amply demonstrated. Ask Peru.
A year after a January 15 2022 earthquake caused 6,000 barrels of barrels of oil aboard a ship to spill into Peruvian waters, the effects of the spill are being felt long after the authorities in Lima had declared a national emergency and moved to both effect an emergency clean-up and to engage the Spanish oil company REPSOL on the matter of compensation. It will reportedly cost REPSOL in excess of US$100 million to fix the damage while the Peruvian government has filed a US$4.5 billion lawsuit against the company.
