Peru's consumer protection agency, Indecopi, announced that it will be suing Repsol, a Spanish oil and energy firm, for the equivalent of 3 billion United States dollars in environmental damage and 1.5 billion United States dollars in damages to locals over a spill on January 15th, 2022, that resulted in over 10,000 barrels of oil entering the Pacific Ocean. Officials in Peru call the spill the worst ecological disaster around the national capital of Peru in recent years, and state that the incident has "wreaked havoc" on two protected biodiversity areas. As of now, the exact amount of leaked oil is still unclear, with some sources claiming that the leaked amount is closer to 6,000 barrels. 

The oil company has denied responsibility over the spill, initially stating in a press release on January 21st, 2022, that the spill was caused when "anomalous waves" generated by a volcanic eruption in Tongo resulted in an underwater oil pipeline rupturing. However, Repsol later blamed the spill on Italian-flagged tanker Mare Doricum, which was unloading crude oil at the La Pampilla refinery. The company said that due to the absence of any warning of powerful incoming waves from any government or navy sources, the company continued the unloading procedure when the waves struck. Prior to government inspections of the spill, Repsol falsely reported that the spill only involved "seven gallons". 

A spokesperson of Repsol said that the accusations by Indecopi was "baseless, inadmissible, and inconsistent", though the representative noted that the company is still investigating the cause of the spill. In May 2022, a representative from Repsol said that the cleanup operation would cost the Spanish company the equivalent of about 150 million United States dollars. On the other hand, while an analyst says that although 150 million dollars is not an insignificant amount, Repsol reported a net income of just under 2.5 billion Euros, which is over 15-times the company's quoted cleanup cost. 

According to officials of the Peruvian Ministry of Environment, the oil spill has not only caused massive ecological damage and resulted in hundreds of fishermen losing their incomes, but also resulted in a decline in tourism in the area. The head of Indecopi said that the latest lawsuit against Repsol has been admitted by a Peruvian judge, which means that the case will soon go to court, and that part of the lawsuit's proceeds will go to affected people living within 150 kilometers (over 90 miles) of the contaminated coast. 

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