Bicentenario Oil Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Bicentenario Oil Pipeline, known locally as Oleoducto Bicentenario or by its Spanish initials OBC, is an operating oil pipeline in Colombia.

Existing Location

The pipeline runs from Estación Banadia in Saravena (Arauca department) to Estación Araguaney in Yopal (Casanare department), Colombia.

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Project Details

• Operator: Oleoducto Bicentenario S.A. (OBC)
• Owner: Cenit SAS (99.03%), Hocol SA (0.97%)
• Parent Company: Ecopetrol SA (100%)
• Capacity: 233,000 barrels per day
• Length: 230 kilometers
• Diameter: 42 inches
• Oil source: Llanos basin, Colombia
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2013

Cancelled Expansion Location

The pipeline would have run from Banadía to Coveñas, Colombia.

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Expansion Project Details

• Operator: Ecopetrol (56%), Pacific Rubiales (43%), Canacol (1%)
• Cancelled Expansion Capacity: 340,000 barrels per day
• Cancelled Expansion Length: 731 kilometers
• Oil source: Llanos basin, Colombia
• Status: Cancelled

Background

The Bicentenario pipeline started up in 2013-14. It is operated by Oleoducto Bicentenario S.A., which Ecopetrol controls through its midstream unit Cenit with a 100% stake. Prior to Cenit's acquisition of full ownership in the pipeline in 2020, Canadian independent Pacific Exploration and Production held 43.02% and junior independents Canacol and Vetra held the remainder.

The reported purpose of the OBC pipeline was to lessen transport bottlenecks experienced by oil producers operating in the prolific Llanos basin in Colombia. The pipeline project was planned to be the largest such project in Colombia's history.

The pipeline was originally intended to be a 960km pipeline, extending from Casanare to the port of Coveñas, and a 450.000 b/d capacity. Its construction was intended to be carried out in four separate stages, labeled phases 0 to 3.

Phases 0 and 1 were completed and are currently operational. Together, these sections measure 229.3 kilometers (142.5 miles), with a reported capacity ranging from 110,000 bpd to 240,000 bpd.

Phases 2 and 3 were cancelled, but would have had a combined length of 730.3 km and transported crude oil from the Banadía station to the Coveñas Maritime Terminal through 42, 30 and 36 inches pipelines, with 340,000 b/d capacity. The second and third phases of the pipeline were cancelled due to falling oil prices and attacks on various parts of other pipeline systems. Aside from a suspension of further pipeline construction, the attacks on other pipeline systems led Ecopetrol to reverse the Bicentenario oil pipeline to free up flow of 29°API crude from US Occidental's 50,000 b/d Caño Limón oil field, effectively bypassing the portions attacked by anti-government militants.

The Bicentenario line previously transported medium sour crude from Araguaney to Banadia. With the reversal, the Caño Limón crude can now flow south to connect into the 590,000 b/d Ocensa transport system. The Caño Limón-Coveñas and Ocensa lines both terminate at the oil port of Coveñas, but Ocensa is less vulnerable to attack because it is underground.

In late 2018, there was renewed talk of building phases 2 and 3 of the Bicentenario pipeline, based on rising oil prices and potential development of new reserves in the departments of Casanare and Meta. A consultant for the Colombian planning agency UPME (Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética) estimated that oil prices would have to rise above $85 a barrel and proven reserves in the two departments would need to exceed 450,000 barrels daily in order for the expansion project to become financially viable.

During 2020, there was an increase of illegal siphoning from the pipeline as well as an attack on the pipeline. Operations and technical personnel were sent to perform inspections under the protection of the Colombian National Army in June 2020.

Spills

In August 2014, the Bicentenario crude oil pipeline was shut down after being attacked; the Colombian government blamed leftist rebels for the attack. The attack occurred in Fortul municipality, in the eastern province of Arauca near the border with Venezuela, causing a huge fire but no injuries or fatalities. The oil pipeline was ruptured and oil did spill according to the operator Oleoducto Bicentenario. The was no disclosure on the amount of oil spilled. In May 2019 the pipeline was again shut down following an attack in Fortul.