Toronto-based Frontera Energy co-owned pipeline could move fracked oil from the Middle Magdalena region in Colombia

Photo from a Global Day of Action against Fracking protest in Bogota on December 11, the eve of the 5th anniversary of the conclusion of the Paris climate summit.

In August 2019, Reuters reported that Natalia De la Calle, the Chief Executive Officer of Colombian Oil Pipeline (Oleoducto de Colombia), said that the pipeline company is “ready to move increased crude output from the center of Colombia to the Caribbean if the use of fracking is approved in the Andean country.”

The CEO of the company stated: “The evacuation and transport systems of the pipeline are ready to receive an incremental production via fracking. …An increase in capacity for Oleoducto de Colombia could be something that we review in the future given the results of non-conventional deposits if that’s the case.”

That article further references a 236,000 barrel per day pipeline that is co-owned by Toronto-based Frontera Energy. That pipeline moves oil 483 kilometres from Vasconia Station (Boyacá) in the Middle Magdalena region through Antioquia department to the coastal city of Coveñas (Sucre) on the Atlantic Ocean.

When that pipeline was built in 1990 it caused extensive environmental damage in northern Antioquia.

Colombia Reports notes: “ODC [Oleoducto de Colombia] stripped all the trees from along the pipeline corridor, leaving it without vegetation, and exposing it to water and wind erosion. The earth moving operations caused avalanches, blocked springs and diverted streams. Works for the pipeline destroyed 150 water sources along the Zaragoza section. ODC’s restoration work was conducted poorly and topsoil was not replaced. Sacks of earth rotted away within a few months and farm animals that ate the synthetic sacking were poisoned. The peasants lost their fruit trees and other crops.”

Fracking remains a controversial issue in Colombia.

Despite this, Canadian companies including Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd. (in partnership with ConcoPhillips), Toronto-based Sintana Energy (and its Colombian-based subsidiary Patriot Energy in partnership with ExxonMobil), and Calgary-based Parex Resources are reportedly interested in the fracking pilot projects in Colombia.

Colombia’s proven oil reserves sit at 1.7 billion barrels, but the Colombian government estimates the use of fracking could triple those oil reserves.

This letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres signed by 450+ organizations and individuals, including Canadian author Naomi Klein, calling for a global ban on fracking highlighted: “There are numerous proven risks and impacts related to the development of fracking projects, such as heavy freshwater consumption, water and soil contamination, public health impacts and the significant contribution to global warming.”

PBI-Canada continues to watch this situation closely as it relates to the concerns about the human rights violations and environmental consequences of fracking being expressed by PBI-Colombia accompanied defenders.

Chart: Frontera Energy Corporation Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2018, page 21.

Equity interest is the ownership share of a shareholder in a business. In April 2014, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (the former name for Frontera Energy Corp.) reported that it had sold its 5% interest in the Ocensa pipeline for US $385 million.