If you have followed Amazon Watch's campaigns over the years, the name Block 64 might ring a bell. Over the course of almost 30 years, the Peruvian government has encouraged a steady parade of international oil companies to explore and exploit the oil concession, located near the border with Ecuador.

All have hit a major obstacle: the vehement opposition of Indigenous peoples, specifically the Achuar People of the Pastaza River and the Wampis Nation. Well-resourced oil companies like Occidental Petroleum, Talisman Energy, and most recently Chile-based GeoPark have invested millions of dollars and ultimately failed to get the project off the ground.

Block 64 is now in the eye of Petroperú, which hasn't been in the oil extraction business for three decades. The Peruvian national mood, however, might be turning away from expanded oil production. Though oil spills have been polluting Amazonian Indigenous communities for decades, a major spill off the coast of Lima in mid-January has brought the negative impacts of the industry to the doorsteps of capital city residents.