Ecopetrol has started this year’s process to hire ground transportation, in Meta the governor says a special route will be designated for tankers and Huila-Putumayo leaders met to discuss transportation issues. Meanwhile a number of accidents and spills caused delays in Casanare and made headlines.
The national government and the U’WA indigenous community have reached an agreement that will allow repair crews to access the damaged Caño Limon – Coveñas pipeline, which has been out of service since a bombing on March 25th.
The ODL pipeline is planning a new pipeline extension that will run from Carmentea – Araguaney and together with the Yopal municipal council, Casanare Departmental Assembly and the municipal Advising Office of Planning will hold a series of community meetings to socialize the project.
The Minister of Mines and Energy Amylkar Acosta published an opinion piece in which he highlighted the gains in terms of energy security for the country, pointing out that it is one of the highest ranked nations in terms of energy security in the region, something that will be crucial to prepare for potential effects of El Niño weather phenomenon.
Members of the U´WA indigenous community finally met on April 25th to discuss an agreement that would allow repair crews in to fix the damaged Caño Limon – Coveñas pipeline but no agreement was reached.
The U’WA indigenous group, who has been blocking access of repair crews to damaged sections of the Caño Limón – Coveñas pipeline, skipped a meeting scheduled for April 18th with the national government and say they will only meet for a previously established roundtable on the 25th. Meanwhile, the pipeline remains out of service.
Small diameter pipeline says it has added a line of informative sessions in addition to those required for its environmental permit and completed a diploma course that it sponsored for communities in the area of influence.
In Huila and Putumayo, the number of tankers on the road has dropped by 40% since an announcement three weeks ago from President Juan Manuel Santos that pipelines would be used instead of trucks when possible to reach the Tumaco port.
Proposals for reorganizing how hydrocarbons are transported, everything from an integration of large trucking firms to optimize use, to trains and to harnessing the Magdalena River have all been proposed over the last week.
The damage and aftermath of guerrilla attacks on this sensitive set of pipelines keeps on snowballing, with reports estimating that the lost barrels have long surpassed a million and that a good portion of the Caño Limon field is at a halt.