----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 4:21 PM Subject: [STOPNATO] Colombia: Truth About The 'Drug' War STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM Published Tuesday, June 20, 2000, in the Miami Herald Colombia strikes gold in big oil field BY TIM JOHNSON [EMAIL PROTECTED] SEE ALSO OPEC expected to pump more oil BOGOTA, Colombia -- The state oil company on Monday said a consortium of Colombian, Brazilian and Canadian companies had struck Colombia's first major oil field in more than a decade. The oil field, near the capital of Bogotá, may contain more than 200 million barrels of light sweet crude, said Alberto Calderón, president of the national oil company, Ecopetrol. ``It wasn´t known that this area would have such potential,´´ Calderón said. One of the three companies in the consortium, Calgary-based Canadian Occidental Petroleum, celebrated the find as a ``major oil and gas discovery.´´ The discovery is likely to forestall a sharp slide in oil production in Colombia, a nation that was the seventh-largest source of U.S. crude oil last year. It also may slow an exodus of foreign oil companies discouraged by rampant guerrilla violence. Leftist rebels plague the major oil fields of the nation's vast eastern jungles. Last year, rebels bombed an oil pipeline there a record 79 times. The newly discovered field, known as Guando, is less remote and may be easier to protect from rebel attack. The site, near the town of Boquerón, sits in the Upper Magdalena River Basin between the central and eastern Andean ranges, 44 miles southwest of Bogotá. An existing oil pipeline passes nearby. ``This is an important find,´´ Calderón said. ``It would be the third most important in the last 20 years in Colombia.´´ Previous major finds include the Caño Limón field in 1983 near the border with Venezuela, and the Cusiana-Cupiagua fields in 1988-1989, in the eastern foothills of the Andes. The two fields produce the bulk of the nation's oil. Colombia has 2.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, although some of the crude is trapped in difficult rock formations and not economically feasible to tap. The probable reserves of 200 million barrels at the Guando field pale beside the 1.5 billion barrels of proven reserves at the mammoth Cusiana-Cupiagua oil fields. But Calderón said Guando would boost oil export revenues by ``$500 million or more´´ in coming years -- or alternatively satisfy Colombia´s domestic oil needs for at least 2 1/2 years. Oil has become vital to Colombia's economy, earning the nation $3.7 billion in 1999, more than coffee, coal and cut flowers. Colombia's oil exports to U.S. markets grew to 450,000 barrels per day last year, a record. That level is likely to be short-lived. Colombia is exhausting its current oil fields, and has seen daily production drop from 846,000 barrels in early 1999 to about 723,000 barrels in March. Further declines are expected, and before Monday's announcement experts predicted that Colombia would become a net importer of crude oil by 2004. The Guando field consortium is led by a subsidiary of the Brazilian company Petrobras, with 30 percent; and Canadian Occidental, with 20 percent. Ecopetrol retains a 50 percent interest for representing the host nation. ``We expect that the field will be in production within 12 months,´´ Calderón said. The Ecopetrol chief said the state company felt fortunate to strike a significant reserve given the track record of recent worldwide exploration. ``More or less 15,200 wells have been drilled around the world in the 1990s, and of these less than 2 percent [struck oil] of greater than 100 million [barrels of reserves],´´ Calderón said. ``That means that on the worldwide scale . . . this is an important discovery.´´ Frightened by its dwindling oil exports, Colombia recently approved more attractive terms for foreign companies, giving them speedier environmental licensing and greater percentages. The reforms came after 11 companies, including Texaco, Chevron and Triton, pulled out of exploration contracts in 1999 after failing to find oil. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Start Your Own FREE Email list with ListBot. http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb
