Caño Limón
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Caño Limón is an oil field in the municipalities of Arauca and Arauquita in Arauca Department, Colombia, on the border of Venezuela. It is the common name for the Caño Limón-Coveñas pipeline which travels 780 kilometers to Coveñas on Colombia's Caribbean coastline. It is jointly owned by the state oil firm Empresa de Petroleos de Colombia, or Ecopetrol, and U.S. company Occidental Petroleum Inc.
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[edit] History
Oil extraction operations began at Caño Limón in 1986. The Colombian Institute of Natural Resources (INDERENA) repeatedly criticized the operation. In 1988, it found that the operators had taken inadequate steps to prevent environmental damage. Later in 1992, it conducted water sampling studies that found high concentrations of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. It found that "because of the polluting effluents from Caño Limón, the receiving rivers and lakes are no longer fit for human consumption."
[edit] Sabotage and Attacks
The pipeline has often been attacked by guerrilla organizations that oppose the Colombian government. The National Liberation Army (Colombia), which has traditionally been involved in such attacks, charged in a communique that "in our country, energy policy does not prioritize investment (in Colombia) but rather exploitation and consumption that sacrifices future generations." Together with the FARC, they have repeatedly sabotaged and exploded sections of the pipeline.
The Colombian government has militarized the area in response. For several years a security tax was imposed on oil producers in the region, which have also been targeted by guerrilla extortion and kidnappings. Occidental Petroleum also contracted the security firm AirScan to aid the Colombian military in the defense of its operations.
| Attacks on Oil Pipelines, 2001-2004[1] |
||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | |
| All pipelines | 263 | 74 | 179 | 103 |
| Caño Limón Coveñas | 170 | 41 | 34 | 17 |
| Source: Ministry of Defense, Government of Colombia. | ||||
In 2001, there were 170 attacks on the pipeline. The pipeline was out of operation for 266 days of that year. The government estimates that these bombings potentially reduced the GDP of Colombia by 0.5%. Occidental Petroleum lobbied and testified for increased American involvement in protecting the pipeline. The government of the United States increased military aid by $98 million, in 2003, to Colombia to assist in the effort to defend the pipeline. Attacks on the pipeline have subsequently been reduced during the following years.
[edit] Santo Domingo Bombing
In 1998, AirScan misidentified the village of Santo Domingo as a hostile guerrilla target, leading to a December 13 cluster bomb attack by the Colombian military which killed eighteen civilians, including nine children. The incident led to different legal actions against all the parties involved, some of which are still in progress.
[edit] Sources
- Project Underground, "Blood of Our Mother", August 1998.
- Douglass W. Cassel Jr., "A CORPORATE COVER-UP?, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, January 9, 2003.
- American Friends Service Committee, U.S. Military Aid and Oil Interests in Colombia.
- T. Christian Miller, A Colombian Village Caught in a Cross-Fire, Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2002.
- Bill Weinberg, STATE OF SIEGE IN ARAUCA: Indigenous Peoples, Civil Society Under Attack in Colombia's Oil Zone.
