"Pluspetrol failed to respect Indigenous rights and the environment in Peru", 03 September 2025

...The NCP found that the company failed to engage meaningfully with impacted Indigenous communities, noting that Pluspetrol failed to foster a relationship of mutual trust with communities by concluding agreements that included disadvantageous elements for the communities.

Joseph Wilde-Ramsing, advocacy director at SOMO: “For the first time, the Dutch NCP has recognised that companies cannot hide behind Dutch letterbox structures to avoid responsibility for human rights and environmental harm. This case sets an important international precedent.”

The NCP’s findings carry concrete consequences for Pluspetrol’s future operations. Under Dutch government policy, the company should now be excluded from trade promotion and free trade agreements, export credit, and public procurement contracts. 

The case also exposes how the Netherlands’ lax corporate transparency enables company abuses. Pluspetrol, though Argentine-owned, operated via a Dutch letterbox structure, with part of its corporate structure registered in the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg. The statement increases pressure on the Dutch government to curb harmful letterbox constructions, strengthen corporate transparency rules, and enforce the OECD Guidelines more effectively. 

The complaint also highlights the importance of companies to ensure they disengage responsibly. Under the OECD Guidelines, companies must conduct due diligence over any decision to disengage, including ensuring any impacts caused during operations or as a result of the decision to disengage are remediated. In this case, Pluspetrol remains responsible for cleaning up its environmental pollution and providing compensation to those impacted...