A new pipeline has prompted truckers to blockade a major oil field in central-eastern Colombia.The protest began at midnight on Thursday, with two trucks blocking entrance into the Puerto Gaitan oil field.
Now over 500 trucks are unable to enter the field, according to an interview given to Radio Santa Fe by a representative of Canadian oil multinational and field owner Pacific Rubiales.
The truckers are protesting the new 143-mile-long Bicentennial Pipeline, which carries crude to the port of Covenas in Sucre department on the Colombian Caribbean Coast, where it goes for export.
The number of journeys taken by the tankers has dropped by a reported 40% thus far in November because of the pipeline.
Pacific Rubiales, meanwhile, claims the pipeline will reduce the company’s environmental impact.
Much of Colombia’s trucking sector went on strike earlier this summer over the high internal price of gas.
Colombia’s energy industry has had its own set of labor troubles as well, with several of the largest production sites in the country closing for long periods over wage and environmental issues.
Source
Pacific Rubiales aclara: Protesta camionera es causada por oleoducto Bicentenario (Radio Santa Fe)