monteverde, peoples voluntary isolation, liberty refinery, cutting-edge technologies, yasuni, yasuni itt

The #tale of cutting-edge # technologies

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One of the frequent hydrocarbon spills in the Amazon
and which now also threatens the water sources of the
Ecuador's last isolated peoples. PHOTO: BBC


The "#cutting edge technologies" are undoubtedly part of the most repetitive speeches used by the transnational oil and mining companies and their governments (sponsors and/or submissive) with the objective of convincing the majority of the population regarding the feasibility of extractive operations with a great impact in highly sensitive areas.


The President of Ecuador has fervently insisted on repeating this little speech, which sounds nice without a doubt, since it even goes along with the air of "modernity" that they want to give to the State, but which does not stand up to the slightest analysis.

Ecuador has 12 oil spills a month, according to Felipe Harman, a Colombian oil expert during the conference YASUNI: CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY?, organized by the Institute of Ecological Studies and the YASUNIDOS collective; with these figures the country is very far from being even a benchmark of environmental excellence in the oil sector, the cover under which the acceptance of the population for the continuation of oil operations in the Yasuní National Park is sought.

The expert's figures, which are higher than the official ones from the Ministry of Environment, which in the cumulative total of 2011 reported 60 hydrocarbon spills during that year in the country, have a logical explanation according to biologist and researcher Diego Mosquera, director of the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, in the Yasuní National Park, since "Sometimes when they are small spills, in refineries or due to negligence, they do not even appear in the news."


Harman also explained that «sAccording to the community of the Libertador field (operated by PetroAmazonas), There is a monthly spill at that site. This is a high rate, not only in terms of environmental responsibility, but in economic terms. Something is failing in the internal structure of the Petroamazonas field. The standards of the company's Risk manuals are not fully applied there either. I have reviewed some documents from this company in an internal audit carried out by a Ministry. It states that although it has some contingency parameters, it is not applying them.

Other oil technicians from Latin America also participated in the conference after touring the fields operated by PETROAMAZONAS (the company that would operate the ITT block in Yasuní), including Eduardo D'Elia, (Petroleum Engineer, Argentina)) who made it clear that “There is no cutting-edge technology in the oil industry. The technology that has been used in the last 40 years is applied everywhere in the world. The problem is that there are low environmental quality standards in the country. Technology is useless if you don’t know how to manage it. Unfortunately, Ecuador and Chile have the same practices as the oil companies that have been exploiting until now. They still have those quality standards that make the operation so poor in environmental quality. These exploitation methods are unsustainable.”

Swimming pools without protective membranes to prevent birds from landing on their surface, ducts that should be protected and are only covered with 40-year-old paint and with no evidence that an integrity test has been carried out periodically, enclosures and retaining walls that should be waterproofed and are not, and valves located in populated areas were some of the observations given by the experts about situations that clearly need to be improved first in the areas of current exploitation and that do not coincide with the official discourse of "high environmental quality standards" and "cutting-edge technologies."

For his part, Ecuadorian oil expert Marcelo Román expressed his surprise at the government's assertions that «With technology, up to 90% of deposits have been recovered». Roman said: "I am not aware of any country that has managed to surpass the 35% recovery rate for our fields. 

On the other side of the country, in the province of Santa Elena, there are also frequent complaints of environmental contamination caused by sources located in Ancón, the refinery in La Libertad, and the newest oil installation in the province (with the highest cutting-edge technology, according to the official offer to the community members) in Monteverde. Complaints that await a clear response and a decisive solution from the authorities called to preserve the environment and carry out these operations efficiently. 

The Monteverde plant is now a new source of contamination
in the province of Santa Elena, despite the repetitive official discourse.      
 PHOTO: Drino Nieto

It is important, by way of conclusion, to be clear that for extractive companies (private or state-owned), mainly in oil and mining, environmental discourse is above all an instrument of publicity and better business, as we can clearly analyze in the article entitled  «How to be an oil company with a good image» from the website of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in which a senior official of a multinational in the sector states that: «The opinion of people in the communities where we operate is increasingly important in our sustainability» (of the company and not of nature), and concludes that "We see [corporate social responsibility] as a kind of insurance that we pay to ensure that we can continue to operate.«. 

This statement shows that it is a matter of business, of making investments more profitable and not of concern for nature or society.

Below is a conversation held by the Tegantai News Agency with the oil experts participating in the Yasuní conference: Cutting-edge technologies? 

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