Authorities in Colombia’s southwest on Tuesday ordered the suspension of oil operations carried out by multinational Emerald Energy for causing grave environmental damage.
The autonomous administration of the southwest Huila department ordered the suspension of operations by Emerald Energy, a U.K.-based oil company with operations throughout Colombia.
Rey Ariel Borbon Ardila, director of the autonomous corporation in charge of the department’s environmental protection, signed the resolution suspending operations of the multinational oil company in the municipality of Gigante.
Emerald Energy, which specializes in oil explorations and production of hydrocarbons, has been carrying out explorations and exploitations of crude oil in the Miraflores zone. The area is the birthplace of many rivers and streams, which the Colombian government had declared as a nature reserve.
Senator Hernan Andrade has assured that the area has been identified as a priority for conservation and that the actions of oil operations will have unfavorable environmental effects.
The suspension of Emerald Energy operations is one step towards conservation and the company has been ordered to stop its actions of loading and unloading in the Miraflores zone of Gigante because of the extreme damages it has caused to the environment.
Emerald Energy will not be able to continue its activities until it fixes mistakes that incur damages to the land.