Peru's Beaches Still Contaminated One Month After Oil Spill

Spanish oil company Repsol claimed Friday that its data over an oil spill in the Peruvian Pacific differs from that of the government's.

Peruvian authorities had said that less than a quarter of what they said was 11,900 barrels spilled into Pacific Ocean on January 15 had been collected.

Jaime Fernández-Cuesta, president of Repsol in Peru, said flow records from the refinery indicated the spill was approximately 10,400 barrels.

"I don't understand how third parties can establish another, different figure without this data," Fernández said during a conference in Lima.

Environment Minister Modesto Montoya on Monday said that 2,000 barrels have been recovered.

During the conference on Friday Repsol engineer, Jose Reyes, said the firm had collected nearly 98% of the oil from both land and sea.

On Friday, journalists from The Associated Press explored one of the affected areas by boat along with Natural State Protected Areas Service officials and observed long white foam formations floating in the sea.

The officials collected seven dead seabirds floating in the Pacific.

The rescuers have found nearly 300 dead birds in a month and observed at least 1,200 oiled birds, especially cormorants, Peruvian boobies, Humboldt penguins, pelicans and Peruvian gulls.

A United Nations expert team described the spill as "the worst ecological disaster" in the recent history of the South American country.

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