Bicentenario Oil Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

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Bicentenario Oil Pipeline is an operating oil pipeline in Colombia.

Existing Location

The pipeline runs from Banadia to Araguaney, Colombia.

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Project Details

• Operator: Ecopetrol (56%), Pacific Rubiales (43%), Canacol (1%)
• Current capacity: 120,000 barrels per day
• Current Length: 229 kilometers
• 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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Project Details

• Operator: Ecopetrol (56%), Pacific Rubiales (43%), Canacol (1%)
• Cancelled Expansion Capacity: 450,000 barrels per day
• Cancelled Expansion Length: 731 kilometers
• Oil source: Llanos basin, Colombia
• Status: Cancelled

Background

Bicentenario (OBC) started up in 2013-14. It is operated by Oleoducto de Los Llanos (ODL), which Ecopetrol controls through its midstream unit Cenit with a 55.97% stake. Canadian independent Pacific Exploration and Production holds 43.02% and junior independents Canacol and Vetra hold 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. It's 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. It's 229.3 kilometers (142.5 miles), with a capacity of 120,000 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 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.

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.