FARC ceasefire means relief for Colombia's oil industry

In what surely came as welcome relief for the entire Colombian oil industry, the FARC rebel group declared on Wednesday that it would start a month-long unilateral cease-fire on July 20^th. Amid peace negotiations that have been dragging on since November 2012, the FARC recently restarted its campaign of attacks against Colombia’s oil infrastructure, causing an oil spill and environmental disaster in southwestern Colombia.

However, Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol is not satisfied with a cease-fire start date of July 20^th, and expects attacks against the country’s oil infrastructure to stop immediately. Ecopetrol told reporters that the FARC’s attacks have jeopardized the lives of oil workers and contractors, and have severely hurt the communities that rely on the water contaminated by spilled oil.

Ecopetrol president Juan Carlos Echeverry said in a press release, “We ask for the immediate end of this wave of terrorist attacks that has put at risk the lives of our workers, contractors, and communities, and that cause irreparable damage to our environment in areas recognized for their rich biodiversity.”

Though Colombian President Juan Manual Santos welcomed the one-month unilateral ceasefire, he insisted that this gesture is insufficient. He stressed that both sides need to speed up the peace negotiations so that they can finally end the 50-year-long conflict in Colombia.

In other oil-related news, Mexico’s Alfa and the investor-funded Harbor Energy dropped their $6.4 billion offer for Pacific Rubiales, explaining that the bid would have been rejected by Pacific’s shareholders. Alfa had warned in June that if its offer were not accepted, Pacific Rubiales’ future would be put in jeopardy. The company will need to restructure its debt in order to continue operating in Colombia.