On Tuesday, Ecuador’s state-owned oil company halted crude exports and declared an emergency due to a damaged pipeline after a spill contaminated multiple rivers, depriving hundreds of thousands of people of drinking water, according to authorities.
It was thought that a landslip broke a large pipeline, causing tens of thousands of barrels of oil to spill Thursday in the northwest of Ecuador.
At least five streams have since been affected by the crude, including the Esmeraldas River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean.
Petroecuador, a state-owned company that oversees the damaged pipeline, declared on Tuesday that it will halt exports of Oriente crude, one of the two types produced in the South American nation, because of the force majeure clause.
The business believes that by using the clause, it will be protected from fines and possible customer contract violations.
This “emergency declaration will not last longer than 60 days and aims to… allocate all necessary resources to minimise the impact of the force majeure event on hydrocarbon exploration, exploitation, transportation, and marketing operations,” according to a statement from Petroecuador on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.
In a region that is primarily dependent on rivers for this commodity, Esmeraldas Mayor Vicko Villacis told the Teleamazonas network on Tuesday that almost half a million people have been impacted in one way or another, with many of them being cut off from drinking water.
About 200,000 barrels of oil were spilt, according to his estimation.
In regions where fishing is a major source of subsistence income, Petroecuador, which has not estimated the amount of petroleum that was spilt, was utilising tanker trucks to retrieve as much of the oil as possible.
According to the firm, three ships are anticipated to deliver drinking water to Esmeraldas on Tuesday.
A wildlife refuge with over 250 animal species is located in the province, which has also been designated an environmental emergency by the government.
– Dependence on the rivers –
In 2024, Ecuador produced over 475,000 barrels of oil per day, which is one of its primary exports.
The 500-kilometre (310-mile) Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System, which connects the Amazon to the Pacific coast, includes the ruptured pipeline. It can move 360,000 barrels per day.
Marine researcher Eduardo Rebolledo of the Catholic University of Esmeraldas told a local TV station that “there are no life forms in the water” of two impacted rivers where “a mixture of oil and water circulate.”
“In rural Esmeraldas, drinking water is limited, people depend heavily on the rivers, and people use the river water,” he explained.
AFP observed several boats and their nets encrusted with black oil in the fishing community of Rocafuerte in Esmeraldas.
Luis Cabezas, a local, stated, “We won’t be able to fish anymore if it keeps going like this.”
