Lima, 21 January 2022

Mrs. Mirtha Esther Vásquez Chuquilín
Mirtha Esther Vásquez Chuquilín
President of the Council of Ministers
Present.

Subject: We, the trade unions of Petróleos del Perú Petroperú, in view of the serious and irremediable damage caused by the Spanish transnational REPSOL, request that you kindly REVIEW THE CONTRACT WITH THIS COMPANY in defence of the national interest and defence.

We hereby send you our greetings and would like to point out the following:

1) That, AS UNIONISED WORKERS OF PETRÓLEOS DEL PERÚ PETROPERÚ S.A. we have historically contributed to guarantee the energy security of our homeland, giving priority to national interest, sovereignty, defence and dignity.

2) That in 1996, the corrupt government of the dictator Alberto Fujimori privatised 60% of the shares of the La Pampilla refinery in favour of the Relapasa consortium, made up of the Spanish transnational REPSOL, which owned 55% of the shares and which had YPF, Mobil and three Peruvian companies as minority partners. The value of the sale was $180 million US dollars, including in the transaction $38 million in foreign debt securities, when the real value of the most important refinery in Peru was $460 million dollars, considering the price of the land valued at $104 million dollars.

This harmful action for Peru was the result of a corrupt state policy that stoned public and strategic companies behind the nation’s back.

3) That, 26 years after this privatisation, which was harmful to Peru, the La Pampilla S.A.A. Refinery or RELAPASA, which is a subsidiary of REPSOL PERU B.V. and PART OF THE SPANISH REPSOL GROUP, is the most important refinery of the seven that exist in the country, with a primary refining capacity of 117 (mbd) thousand barrels of oil per day, considering that 53.7% of the production corresponds to diesel and 24.3% to gasoline. Likewise, its subsidiary Repsol Comercial S.A.C. (Recosac) is in charge of marketing the fuels produced by the refinery, partly using its 590 service stations (own and flagged).

4) That, the La Pampilla Refinery managed by REPSOL, in 2019 invoiced a total of $3,064.3 US million dollars and in 2020 its total income was $1,419. 5 US million dollars being this a consequence of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the world, even so, these figures reveal that the hydrocarbon business of the Spanish transnational in Peru has been excessively profitable in comparison to the $180 US million dollars that it cost by the privatisation executed by the corrupt dictator Alberto Fujimori.

5) That, the TRADE UNIONS signing this letter point out that it is INADMISSIBLE that after the alert of the oil spill on the coasts of Callao on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, which affected 18 thousand square metres of the beaches of this coastline and spread the environmental damage, including to the port of Chancayo, the oil spill was reported to have affected the port of Chancayo, The Spanish Transnational REPSOL has tried to deceive the nation by indicating that it was only a spill of 7 gallons of crude oil when there were approximately 6 thousand barrels of oil that have polluted the sea of Grau.

6) That the damage caused to the environment and to the populations that inhabit this coastal area is irremediable and irreversible, and IT IS REPUDIABLE THAT THE REPSOL COMPANY IN ITS OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION ATTEMPT TO AVOID ITS RESPONSIBILITY by indicating that this spill was caused by a maritime phenomenon, provoked by the volcanic eruption in Tonga. WITH THIS ATTITUDE, REPSOL SHOWS CONTEMPT FOR THE LIFE OF OUR POPULATION AND FOR THE PERUVIAN TERRITORY THAT HOLDS IN ITS BOSOM THE RICHES OF THE SEA OF OUR GLORIOUS HERO MIGUEL GRAU SEMINARIO.

7) That, in the 1990s, the dictator Alberto Fujimori began the process of privatisation of strategic, mining and hydrocarbon companies. Since then, corrupt economic, political and media groups have allied themselves to undermine and devalue the Peruvian state-owned company Petroperu, causing it to lose its competitiveness in the market, also pointing out that it was and is a burden for the Peruvian state. In this sense, today these same “operators” remain silent and try to remove the responsibility of the Spanish transnational REPSOL in the face of this serious, irreparable and irreversible environmental damage, which threatens our territory, which includes the MAR DE GRAU, as well as the defence and national sovereignty of our country.

In this regard, Article 54 of the Political Constitution of Peru expressly states:
“Territory, Sovereignty and Jurisdiction.

The territory of the State is inalienable and inviolable. It includes the soil, the subsoil, the maritime domain, and the airspace that covers them.

The maritime domain of the State includes the sea adjacent to its coasts, as well as its bed and subsoil, up to a distance of two hundred nautical miles measured from the baselines established by law.
In its maritime domain, the State exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction”.

A constitutional mandate that REPSOL intends to ignore by denying its responsibility for the visible environmental crime committed on the coast of Callao and which extends to the port of Chancay in the province of Huaral in the north of Lima.

In this sense, the TRADE UNION ORGANISATIONS signing this letter reiterate that we have always defended the high interests of the homeland, as it is written in our history as expressed in the recovery of La Brea and Pariñas by the Revolutionary Government of General Juan Velazco Alvarado, which determined by Decree Law No. 17821 of September 19, 1979, that October 9 be declared “National Dignity Day” because national dignity was focused on the recovery of oil for the interests of the nation. A patriotic foundation that we, the oil workers of Peru, keep alive in our hearts.

8) That, for the above reasons and as workers organised in trade union institutions, WE DEMAND THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS, MIRTHA VÁSQUEZ CHUQUILÍN, REVIEW THE CONTRACT WITH THE SPANISH TRANSNATIONAL REPSOL, in defence of the sacred interests of the homeland.

IT IS TIME TO RECOVER NATIONAL DIGNITY
IN THE “YEAR OF STRENGTHENING NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY”!
OUR COMMITMENT IS TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE!
WE ARE TRADE UNIONISTS AND WE FIGHT
FOR THE SACRED INTERESTS OF THE HOMELAND!

  • Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de Petróleos del Perú S.A. Operaciones Conchán -SUTRAPEP – OC.
  • Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de Operaciones Selva-SUTOS.
  • Sindicato de Trabajadores de Petróleos del Perú Oficina Principal – SITRAPP,
  • Sindicato Nacional Unificado de Trabajadores Empleados y administrativos de Petróleos del Perú –

PETROPERU S.A. SINUTREAPP.