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MeneameOngoing security concerns in Colombia could negatively affect interest in the Ronda Colombia 2012 tender for new E&P licenses, according to analyst Juan Piñeros of Bogotá-based brokerage Interbolsa.
"Without doubt [security] is a factor to take into account at the moment, evaluating the risks of promising to undertake investments in one of these blocks. As you will be able to see, various blocks in the round would be directed toward the big oil companies due to the big investments required, and for them the security factor is very important," Piñeros told BNamericas.
Bomb attacks have been a relatively common occurrence on Colombian pipelines over the past year.
Reports emerging from Colombia on Wednesday suggest that a fresh attack forced the suspension of operations at the 220,000b/d Caño Limon pipeline which connects the border with Venezuela to the Caribbean port of Coveñas.
The reports were, however, denied by a spokesman for state oil company Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC), which operates the line.
"The pipeline is working normally, and there has not been any attack," the spokesman told BNamericas.
Stretches of the 780km pipeline have been susceptible to attack, with service through the line suspended on two separate occasions in February and July last year.
Similar attacks were also reported on the nearby Antonio Ricaurte gas pipeline last year as well as production facilities in remote parts of the prolific Llanos basin.
Incidents such as these have led to fears that the security situation in the country could be returning to the 1980-90s, when the country teetered on the brink of civil war and kidnappings and bomb attacks were common.
However, many in the industry believe that the recent upsurge in violence is more a symptom of the expansion of exploration activity into previously untouched, remote frontier zones.
Colombia's national hydrocarbons agency ANH plans to offer 11 offshore and 98 onshore blocks totaling 13.4Mha through the Ronda Colombia 2012 tender, which was officially launched this week.
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