根據非營利工程諮詢機構E-Tech一份新的技術報告指出，一條橫跨秘魯亞馬遜河流域的天然氣管線，自15個月前啟用後就發生了4次外洩事件，原因是出於施工品質粗糙，包括焊工素質不良，所使用的管線也是挪自其他工程用剩的鏽蝕材料。環保及原住民團體要求未來美洲開發銀行（IDB）進行新的投資計畫之前，必須要有獨立的管線監督機制。
E-Tech這份報告是由合格的油管工程視察員，根據卡米希亞（Camisea）油管施工期間的調查紀錄所撰寫的。報告中指出，該段油管工程所在的地形崎嶇不平，而施工單位為避免工期超出合約規定而趕工，以免被罰高達9,000萬美元的罰款；報告中警告，這段近185公里常的管線仍有爆裂的高風險。
該段油管工程是兩條天然氣暨液化石油氣輸送管興建計畫的其中之一，起於卡米希亞油田，沿著烏拉巴馬河蜿蜒430公里，終於秘魯東岸、位於首都利馬南方的分餾廠。沿途地形包括亞馬遜雨林，以及海拔4,800公尺高的安地斯山脈。
美洲開發銀行(IDB)於美國華府總部召開公眾諮詢會議期間，E-Tech提交上述報告。不過，銀行高層無法解釋為何先前承諾防止油管漏油的承諾跳票──自油管啟用15個月以來，已四度發生管線漏油事件，當中有3次還是大規模的。
卡米希亞油管從2001年動工以來即爭議不斷，無論在祕魯國內或美洲開發銀行內部都有相關爭論。而且，卡米希亞油田所在地，可說是世界上最具生物多樣性的熱帶雨天林之一，並有一些甚少與外界接觸的亞馬遜原住民族仍居住其中。
完整瀏覽E-Tech的報告可至以下網址：www.etechinternational.org。
A pipeline crossing the Peruvian Amazon has spilled natural gas liquids four times since it opened 15 months ago because it was shoddily built by unqualified welders using corroded pipes left from other jobs, according to a new technical report by the engineering consultancy E-Tech International. Environmental and indigenous groups are calling for an independent audit of the pipeline before new projects are funded by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Written by a certified pipeline welding inspector who inspected sections of the Camisea pipelines during the construction phase, the report indicates that the pipeline was laid quickly on difficult terrain to avoid late completion fines that could have totaled $90 million. Nearly 185 kilometers of the pipeline remains at high risk of rupturing, the E-Tech report warns.
The pipeline is one of two that carry natural gas and natural gas liquids from the Camisea fields along the Urubamba River 430 kilometers east of the Peruvian capital Lima, to a fractionation plant on the Peruvian coast south of the capital city. The pipelines traverse the rainforest and cross the Andes mountains at an elevation of 4,800 meters above sea level.
The E-Tech report was presented to the project's funder, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), at a public consultation at the bank's headquarters in Washington. Bank officials failed to explain why previous commitments to prevent spills from the pipeline have not stopped them. In its first 15 months of operation, the pipeline has ruptured four times, with three major spills.
The Camisea gas project has been controversial in Peru and at the IDB since breaking ground in 2001. The gas is being extracted in one of the most biodiverse tropical rainforests in the world, home to thousands of indigenous people, including some of the last indigenous groups living in isolation anywhere in the Amazon.
The E-Tech report is available online at E-Tech International's website: www.etechinternational.org
