‘50,000 tons of material’ heli-transported into remote Amazon
June 14, 2010
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Anglo-French oil company Perenco has revealed it has transported, by helicopter, ‘more than 50,000 tons of material and consumables’ into the remote Peruvian Amazon.
Perenco described the materials transported into the region as the ‘equivalent of seven Eiffel Towers.’ Perenco has built and drilled a number of wells as part of its plans to exploit an estimated 300 million barrels of oil lying under the rainforest.
The region where Perenco is working is inhabited by two of the world’s last uncontacted tribes and has been described by one scientist as ‘the most biodiverse area in South America.’ The tribes are exceedingly vulnerable to any kind of contact with Perenco’s oil crews, but the company denies they exist.
Perenco revealed its operations in a news article on its website, posted in May. The company’s presence in the region has been fiercely criticised by Indigenous organisations in Peru, such as AIDESEP, which is suing the company in Peru’s top court for working there. Survival is urging Perenco to abandon its operations, but the company is refusing to do so.
Perenco intends to build a pipeline into the region too, which will help transport the oil from the remote Amazon to Peru’s coast.
