• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 1 hour GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 4 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 6 hours If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 4 days Oil Stocks, Market Direction, Bitcoin, Minerals, Gold, Silver - Technical Trading <--- Chris Vermeulen & Gareth Soloway weigh in
  • 5 days The European Union is exceptional in its political divide. Examples are apparent in Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands, Belarus, Ireland, etc.
  • 19 hours Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs
  • 4 days "What’s In Store For Europe In 2023?" By the CIA (aka RFE/RL as a ruse to deceive readers)
Zainab Calcuttawala

Zainab Calcuttawala

Zainab Calcuttawala is an American journalist based in Morocco. She completed her undergraduate coursework at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook’em) and reports on…

More Info

ELN Attacks Another Colombian Pipeline As Ceasefire Ceases

Colombia’s Transandino pipeline stopped operating on Sunday after a bomb planted by ELN rebels caused a crude spill into a nearby river, according to a joint announcement by Ecopetrol and the military.

The National Liberation Army (ELN) is reported to be restarting its militancy against state forces and oil infrastructure after the end of a critical ceasefire to facilitate talks that would end 53 years of war.

The bomb on the 306-kilometer pipeline exploded late Saturday in the Narino provice, but has not affected exports so far. Crude production near the Colombian border is also steady despite the attack on the 85,000-bpd line, the government said.

Official estimates say ELN still has the backing of 2,000 fighters, who have killed two police officers and a soldier since January 9. An Ecopetrol contractor repairing damage to the Cano-Limon pipeline has also been missing since Saturday. The military suspects that the ELN was behind the kidnapping, since they were behind the attack as well.

President Juan Manuel Santos recently recalled his negotiating team to Bogota from Quito to revise his regime’s strategy in ending the ELN conflict.

Colombia’s oil and gas industry is in the process of expanding, which makes the new turmoil difficult to swallow for key energy investors. Ecopetrol announced four oil discoveries in Colombia last year. “[These discoveries show] that we are on the right track to our objective of increasing reserves,” Ecopetrol CEO Felipe Bayon said in November.

Usually, twenty percent of government revenues come from the exploration, production, and taxation of petroleum products in the country, but three years of low oil prices have lowered that proportion to almost zero. Colombia’s oil and gas is difficult to extract, and it trades at a significant discount to Brent. Ecopetrol and foreign field operators need prices to be higher than $50 to turn a profit, which has only been the case over the past three months or so.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

ADVERTISEMENT

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:



Join the discussion | Back to homepage



Leave a comment
  • Brian Ghilliotti on January 16 2018 said:
    I have always wondered if there was an agreement between the ELN and FARC. FARC would disarm and become a "political wing" for Colombia's radical left, while ELN would continue to fight on as a "military wing" if it became necessary to continue politics by other means. Brian Ghilliotti

Leave a comment

EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News