Ecosystem damage caused by the oil industry in the Amazon is under review in Sucumbíos.

The government’s biodiversity committee will tour the oil fields in this northern province to make an inventory of trouble spots.

Soil and water remediation efforts haven’t finished on schedule at some sites, according to assembly-member Guido Vargas. At others, there has been little continuity in compensations for environmental liabilities.

The CEO of Petroecuador, the state oil company, says that there are 2,500 inventoried sites in the Amazon in Sucumbíos that need remediation due to oil industry activities. He said there is a five-year plan underway.

In the Libertador oil field, 9 percent of the sources of pollution have been through remediation (41 out of 461 contaminated sites). In Cuyabeno, 60 percent of the work has been completed. In Shushufindi 15 percent, and in Lago Agrio, 9 percent.

Petroecuadors CEO said that in 2013 $11 million has been budgeted for oil development in the province and 25 percent will go towards remediation efforts.

Original story