Trasandino Oil Pipeline

From Global Energy Monitor
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Trasandino Oil Pipeline, known locally as Oleoducto Trasandino, Oleoducto Transandino, or by its Spanish initials OTA, is an oil pipeline in Colombia.[1]

Location

The pipeline runs from Orito, in the Department of Putumayo, to the Pacific port of Tumaco in the Department of Nariño, Colombia.[2]

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Project Details

  • Operator: Cenit SAS[3][4][5]
  • Owner: Cenit SAS[3][4][5]
  • Parent Company: Ecopetrol SA[1][6][7]
  • Current capacity: 85,000 barrels per day[8]
  • Length: 307 kilometers[3][4]
  • Diameter: 10, 14, 18 inches[4]
  • Status: Operating
  • Start Year: 1969[9]

Background

Construction of the Trasandino Pipeline was completed in 1969.[9] The pipeline has four pump stations and four pressure reduction stations[10], with a transmission capacity of approximately 85,000 bpd.[8][11] Ecopetrol operates the pipeline through its transport and logistics subsidiary Cenit Transporte y Logística de Hidrocarburos S.A.S.[12][13]

Incidents and oil spill

Between 2010 and 2019, there were at least 33 attacks on the Trasandino Oil pipeline, disrupting oil transportation for various lengths of time. Most of the attacks were conducted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) or the National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN).[14]

In 2014, an attack on the pipeline which was blamed on the FARC by Colombian authories caused an oil spill around the area surrounding the damaged pipeline.[15]

In June 2015, several thousand barrels of oil spilled into a river in Southwest Colombia after it was bombed, and would affect several thousand families who relied on the river in their everyday lives. The oil slick drifted down the Rosario River, from Pambil in Narino province and is expected to reach the Pacific Coast. The spill from the Transandino oil pipeline also threatened the habitat of olinguitos, a carnivorous mammal species only discovered in 2013.[16]

A week after the disastrous spill, another bombing caused oil to spill into another river. Ecopetrol used booms to try and contain the spill from reaching major waterways downstream.[17]

In 2019 there were 14 attacks on the pipeline as of July,[18][19] and in 2020 there were 11 attacks between January and May.[12][13]

In March 2020, a section of the pipeline was destroyed by an attack with explosives which was the eighth between January and early March 2020.[20]

On February 20th 2023, an illegal valve that had been installed in the Transandino Pipeline, in the Ricaurte area of the Nariño department, caused a major oil spill.[21] The incident resulted in the evacuation of at least 100 people and in widespread environmental consequences that included the contamination of water sources (Güiza and Mira rivers) as well as the contamination of cassava and plantain crops in the area.[21] The indigenous community of the Resguardo Indígena La Milagrosa was particularly affected by the event; 20 families in the community had to be temporarily displaced because of the incident.[21] Later, in October 2023, a segment of the pipeline exploded, possibly as a result of an attack.[22]

Articles and resources

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Trasandino Oil Pipeline, Wikipedia, accessed September 2017
  2. "Mapa de la infraestructura petrolera en Colombia" (PDF). CENIT Transporte y Logística de Hidrocarburos. Retrieved 2023-03-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Oleoductos - Cenit". Cenit. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "D&E-CRUDOS-MME-481-2017 (p 38)" (PDF). Ministerio de Minas y Energía. December 18, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Mapa de infraestructura petrolera en Colombia" (PDF). Cenit Transporte y Logística de Hidrocarburos. Retrieved 2023-03-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. "Ecopetrol S.A. 2021 Form 20-F (p 11)". US Securities & Exchange Commission. April 25, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. Editorial La República S.A.S. "Ecopetrol activó contingencia en el Oleoducto Transandino tras dos atentados". Diario La República (in español). Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Ecopetrol denuncia aumento de robo de hidrocarburos a través de válvulas ilícitas en Colombia". Reuters. September 14, 2020.
  9. 9.0 9.1 "Oleoducto Trasandino cumple 40 años; mueve 25 mil barriles de crudo en un día". El Tiempo. May 17, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. "BOST Project: Introduction - OTA (Transandino pipeline)". UNCO United Refineries. Retrieved 2021-03-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. Militants Blow Up Colombian Pipeline, Disrupt Up To 85.000 Bpd, Oilprice.com, February 17, 2016
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Ecopetrol activó contingencia en el Oleoducto Transandino tras dos atentados". Editorial La República S.A.S. May 31, 2020.
  13. 13.0 13.1 "Ecopetrol de nuevo enfrenta efecto de atentado a oleoducto en Nariño". El Tiempo. June 1, 2020.
  14. Incidents, Global Terrorism Database, accessed March 2021
  15. Colombia's Trasandino oil pipeline shut by rebel bomb attack, Reuters, December 17, 2014
  16. Peter Murphy, "Bombing of Colombian pipeline causes 'environmental tragedy,' Ecopetrol says", Reuters, June 10, 2015
  17. Ecopetrol pipeline bombing spills more oil into Colombian river, El Economista, June 22, 2015
  18. Ecopetrol reporta atentado al oleoducto Trasandino, en Nariño, El Espectador, Jul. 26, 2019
  19. "Reportan en Colombia atentado a Oleoducto Trasandino y acción contra Caño Limón con derrame". Reuters. April 13, 2019.
  20. Reuters Staff. "Section of Transandino pipeline destroyed in attack with explosives". U.S. Retrieved 2021-07-16. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 "Derrame de crudo en Nariño: tuvieron que ser evacuadas más de cien personas". infobae (in español). 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  22. Burgos, Diego. "Fuerte explosión en oleoducto Trasandino, en Nariño". www.radionacional.co. Retrieved 2024-02-09.

Related GEM.wiki articles

External resources

External articles

Wikipedia also has an article on Transandino pipeline (Transandino pipeline). This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License].