Oil Company To Enter Uncontacted Tribe's Land

[Judi Lynn]

Oil Company To Enter Uncontacted Tribe's Land
Saturday, 21 March 2009, 3:28 pm
20 March 2009

Peru: Colombian Oil Company To Enter Uncontacted Tribes’ Land

Colombia’s state oil company will enter territory inhabited by some of the world’s last uncontacted Indians in Peru under an agreement reached this week.

The company, Ecopetrol, has signed a deal with Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, which has a contract to explore in two regions of the Peruvian Amazon – both inhabited by uncontacted tribes.

‘Through its affiliate in Perú, Ecopetrol entered into two agreements with Petrobras Energía del Perú, S.A. to acquire shared (sic) in two exploration and production blocks in Perú,’ reads a statement from Ecopetrol published on Tuesday. ‘In the first block (Lot 110), Ecopetrol will have a 50% share. In the second (Lot 117), the company's holding will be 25%.’

Lot 110 covers almost all of a reserve supposedly set aside for uncontacted Murunahua Indians who are exceedingly vulnerable to any contact with outsiders because of their lack of immunity to disease. Some Murunahua have already been contacted by illegal loggers – an estimated 50% of them were wiped out as a result.

More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0903/S00407.htm