Colombia’s state-run oil company Ecopetrol said Tuesday it will not cease its activities in the south of the country, despite ongoing attacks by guerrilla group FARC.
According to the oil company, it will continue operations in the southern Putumayo department despite its employees receiving death threats from the guerrilla group and having been the victim of 43 rebel attacks on oil infrastructure this year.
Operations manager Jose Miguel Galindo told Caracol radio the company has suffered $2.1 million losses this year because of the attacks while repairing the damage to the environment would cost the company $310,000.
Throughout the year, the FARC and the smaller rebel group ELN have stepped up attacks against Colombia’s oil and mining industry.
In Putumayo, a department bordering Ecuador, only 50% of the department’s potential oil production was being realized due to continued rebel attacks against the oil industry.
Putumayo had a potential oil production of 38,000 barrels of crude oil per day as of July, which corresponds to 7% of Colombia’s total production. The lost income in that department alone comes to approximately $1.8 million a day, the local government said.