The social protests and blockades that have taken place in different parts of the country so far this year have forced several companies in the oil, mining and electricity sectors to withdraw from projects.
One of the most recent cases is that of Enel Colombiawho announced this week the indefinite suspension of the execution of the Windpeshi wind project, which its subsidiary Enel Green Power had been developing for several years in the department of La Guajira.
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This is due to the impossibility of guaranteeing the construction rhythms of the project due to the multiple blockades carried out by some communities that, according to the company, did not allow the continuous rhythm of the construction works to be maintained.
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But this is not the only company that in recent months has decided to withdraw from a project for this reason. A week ago, Frontier Energy Return to the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) two contracts that it has not been able to operate due to security problems.
The Quifa field is one of the company’s strategic assets, which is gradually seeking to re-emerge in the oil market.
These are CAG-5 and CAG-6 that it has in association with the Spanish oil company Repsol in the Caguan-Putumayo basin. “We are constantly reviewing the requirements of those contracts that for some years have had flexibility due to security issues,” said Andrés Sarmiento, director of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs at Frontera Energy.
The same thing happened with the oil company. geopark that initiated proceedings before the ANH to cancel the contracts for 6 blocks that it has in the department of Putumayo for “reasons of force majeure” that make its operations unfeasible.
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Geopark initiated processes before the ANH to cancel the contracts of 6 blocks that it has in the department of Putumayo.
In total, according to the ANHCurrently there are 67 oil contracts in the process of being terminated due to social conflict, environmental issues and public order problems in the territories.
Another highly publicized case was that of oil emerald energy that after the violent takeover carried out by peasants on March 2 at the facilities of the Capella field, located in the municipality of San Vicente del Caguan (Caquetá), the operations they had been carrying out in the Ombú block had to be suspended.
Finally, it was left with an active block -Maranta, in Putumayo- of the 5 it had.
Capella field shot in Caquetá
In the Capella field, of the Ombú block, 2,000 barrels of oil were produced per day, and according to data from the Colombian Association of Oil and Gas (ACP)), due to the violent acts that occurred, the country stopped receiving 2,600 million pesos in royalties, of which 650 million pesos corresponded to San Vicente del Caguan.
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How is the hydrocarbons sector?
In 2022, according to the ACP, there were 1,056 blockades to the operations of the hydrocarbon industry, which represents an increase of 36 percent compared to the previous year.
On average, 2.9 daily blockades were reported and the most affected departments were Santander, Meta, Casanare, Putumayo and Arauca.
In addition, last year there were 20 attacks or blasts on oil pipelines.
Ecopetrol attack in Barrancabermeja
And so far this year, cut to April, the union reports 8 blasts at oil pipelines, one shot at the facilities of a field in caquetá, the kidnapping of a contractor for a company that provides goods and services in the sector in Puerto Gaitán, in addition to the circulation of pamphlets and extortion in Arauca, Meta and Casanare by illegal armed groups.
“These actions not only arise from the industry, but also from the communities whose life and integrity are put at risk in the same way and other rights are violated; The regions and the country are also seriously affected due to the fact that their tax revenues on account of the sector’s investment and their royalties are diminished, among other impacts,” says the union led by Francisco Jose Lloreda.
