LONDON: Chilean state-owned energy company Enap announced the dismissal of the head of the Quintero port, located on the country’s central coast, following the discovery of a new oil spill. The company said in a statement Tuesday that it made the decision to fire Claudio Luengo to ensure the independence of the investigation and assist in determining those responsible for the spill.
The Environment Ministry, for its part, said it may file a complaint for environmental damage, noting that the decant oil spill (heavy oil recovered from the bottom of a fluid catalytic cracking unit) would prevent local artisanal fisherman from working for an indefinite period of time.
On Sunday, an undetermined amount of decant oil was spilled into Quintero Bay due to a problem with a flexible line connecting a tanker and the port terminal. Two other similar accidents have occurred at that same Enap port in recent years, one in September 2014 that resulted in more than 30,000 liters (7,925 gallons) of crude being spilled into the bay and a second incident in August 2015. EFE
