Another spill from Peru’s northern oil pipeline—the third major leak so far this year—has forced the head of the state-run oil company to resign and increased calls for a major overhaul of the aging structure. The spill of between 450 and 500 barrels was reported on June 24 in Barranca, a community of about 500 people on the Marañón River in the northeastern Loreto region. In press releases over the next few days, the state-run oil company Petroperú denied having polluted any body of water, although local residents said rain had washed oil into a palm swamp that drains into the river. The company also insisted that it had not been pumping oil through the pipeline since operation was suspended after... [Log in to read more]