Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) says violence and terrorist attacks in Catatumbo have forced it to move its office in the Convención municipality, despite the pleas of residents to stay.
All the things we do not want to see went badly this week as incidents went up to 42, above recent and long-term averages.
The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) Luz Helena Sarmiento has broken her silence and addressed the damage resulting from guerrilla attacks on oil infrastructure and tanker convoys.
In the midst of a string of attacks on energy infrastructure and public service facilities, one of which killed a three year old, President Juan Manuel Santos finally took a tougher tone with the Farc, warning that their actions could results in a collapse of the peace talks in Havana.
Threats and recent attacks against tankers arriving to a river port in Puerto Asís on their way to Ecuador have forced the government to provide security escorts for the convoys. However it is able to guarantee the passage of one in every four barges, which has slowed down the transport of crude extracted in the area.
The Coveñas/Caño Limon pipeline has become the prime target of guerrilla attacks on oil infrastructure, with the latest a week ago forcing another stop in service while authorities repair the damage.
Incidents went down to 36, at recent and above long-term averages but the trend-line continued to head upwards.
The arrival of now Senator, once President Alvaro Uribe to the Colombian congress, along with his fellow Centro Democratico colleagues has given rise to a much more critical voice in the lawmaking body pointing straight at the peace process. And the new found opposition has come with its own backlash from those supporting the current administration.
The central government is preparing a plan to address what it considers the gravest problem affecting oil production in Colombia today: pipeline security. Officials say military presence is being increased, as are drone flights.
As former president Alvaro Uribe takes his seat in congress in opposition to the peace process, incidents went up to 39, above recent and long-term averages.
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