Pipeline Attacks and Blockades Impact Colombia's Oil Output

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Colombia recorded its lowest monthly oil production in years in April, in part due to destabilizing events in its operations.

Colombia registered an output of 714,000 barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) in April, compared to 790,000 BBL/d during the same period last year, and recorded the lowest monthly volumes since June 2024. The information was published by the Colombian Chamber of Goods and Services for Oil, Gas and Energy (CAMPETROL) with data from the National Agency of Hydrocarbons (ANH).

Some of the main production drops came from the Rubiales and Caño Sur Este oil fields in Meta due to local communities' blockades. Individuals restricted access to the oil fields beginning March 28; three days after, the communities entered the oil fields and forced the shutdown of the facilities. Ecopetrol (Bogota, Colombia) began the restart of operations on April 3.

The takeover of facilities by communities is common in Colombia, often used as a means of protest against domestic conditions.

At the same time, the Caño Limon and Rex NE fields in Arauca were also a key reason for the production decline after being affected by attacks on the Bicentenario pipeline, which impacted the transport of crude, as mentioned by CAMPETROL.

According to the Ministry of Defense and as reported by CAMPETROL, there were 13 pipeline sabotages between January and May (the latest available data), representing a 333% increase in attacks compared to the same period last year. However, it is lower than the 21 attacks registered in the first five months of 2023.

Energy infrastructure has been a recurrent target of criminal groups in several areas of Colombia. Attacks tend to involve the sabotage of key pipelines that transport oil from the fields.

Historically, these attacks had impacted operations, although the number of sabotages on oil pipelines had dropped in recent times since the highs registered in 2013 when the Ministry of Defense reported 259 attacks.

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