Rebel attack downs key Colombia oil pipeline: ( Occidental Petroleum)

[IChing]

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Left-wing guerrillas have bombed Colombia's Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline and halted its crude pumping operations in an attack just a days before presidential elections, the army said on Friday.

The pipeline, the country's second most important, transports crude oil from Cano Limon fields operated by U.S. company Occidental Petroleum in Arauca province on the Venezuelan border to Covenas port on the Caribbean coast.

The pipeline pumps around 95,000 barrels per day, with 62,000 bpd coming from Cano Limon fields in February this year, according to government figures.

Left-wing guerrillas fighting a four-decade insurgency in Colombia blew up part of the pipeline with explosives on Tuesday, an army official said.


Occidental officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the attack.

Colombia's state oil company, Ecopetrol, shares output from the oil field production with Occidental and Repsol.>>>>.snip
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-05-19T153206Z_01_N19384693_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENERGY-COLOMBIA-ATTACK.xml&src=rss

Ecuador just handed Occidental a blow also this week.

[bemildred]

1. Not having a good week.

Although I believe this pipeline gets blown up regularly, elections or no.

[mrdmk]

2. When ever the so-called left wing guerrillas need a couple of bucks

they blow-up this pipeline. I am surprised of not hearing about this more often.

[High Plains]

3. What are you talking about?

[mrdmk]

5. I use to work for Oxy back in the late 80's early 90's

Once or twice a year a year these so-called left-wing guerrillas would blow-up the pipeline in that area. This group of people are more like bandits (give us some money or we will do it again) than a political organization. Most of the time the news report was suppressed, sometimes made a report in the back pages of the NYT or LAT.

You need to understand that living in Columbia is not very easy.

[bemildred]

6. Political organizations and bandits have much in common.

Sometimes one transforms into the other.

I'm not defending FARC or ELN, they are nothing but "Warlords" at this point, but the government of Colombia is no better that either of them.

[mrdmk]

7. The Columbian government has a right-wing paramilitary units at it

disposal and uses them. Any sane person is to the left of those folks. Of course, you do not read about that article. The only thing you do get out of this article is that shareholders including myself will not be getting the dividends that we expected.

[bemildred]

8. Occidental is not having a good week, true.

Fortunately share prices have little to do with earnings or dividends these days. Although, I would assume Occidental is doing OK with profits these days.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. "Left-wing guerrillas fighting a four-decade insurgency" - four DECADES??

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From the posted article:

"Left-wing guerrillas fighting a four-decade insurgency in Colombia blew up part of the pipeline with explosives on Tuesday, an army official said."

Now think about Iraq

Is this what the Iraqis are looking forward to for the next half-century thanks to Bushco?

Makes one ponder

and sigh . .