Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(LIP-ir) -- In an effort to contain the oil spilled by a Peruvian navy tanker that was carrying crude oil for U.S.-owned BPZ Energy, containment equipment such as floating barriers are being used to restrict the spread of the oil and allow for its removal.

After the ship chartered by BPZ Energy exploded and sank in the Pacific waters near the Corvina oil platform, a contingency plan was immediately placed into effect and carried out by a special team, said Peru's Vice Minister of Energy and Mines, Pedro Gamio.

He stated that teams from Peru's navy and the Ministry of Defense were putting floating barriers and sorbents into place.

The danger and potential damage to natural resources have been minimized, explained the vice minister.

"The ship had 7,300 barrels of oil on it at the time of explosion", said Gamio, on the Mesa Central television program.

He assured that an investigation had already begun to establish whether the ship was fit to carry out the task it had been assigned. In preliminary investigations, it was determined the tanker was built 42 years ago in Norway and had been assigned to the merchant-marine service.

According to Gamio, the ship was rebuilt several years ago.