Barco oil concession
| Barco oil concession | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Country | Colombia |
| Region | Norte de Santander department |
| Offshore/onshore | Onshore |
| Coordinates | 8°38′21″N 72°44′14″W / 8.639068°N 72.737099°WCoordinates: 8°38′21″N 72°44′14″W / 8.639068°N 72.737099°W |
| Operator | Texaco, Socony Vacuum, Ecopetrol |
| Field history | |
| Discovery | 1905 |
| Start of development | 1936 |
| Start of production | 1939 |
| Production | |
| Peak of production (oil) | 25,000 barrels per day (~1.2×106 t/a) |
| Estimated oil in place | 250 million barrels (~3.4×107 t) |
The Barco oil concession was one of the main concessions in Colombia during the early development of its petroleum industry, the other being the De Mares concession. Oil was first found in the Norte de Santander department near the border with Venezuela in 1905, but development did not start until 1936. A joint venture between the Texas Corporation and Socony-Vacuum (now Texaco and Mobil) sank the wells and built a 263-mile (423 km) pipeline across the mountains and through swampy jungle to the Caribbean coast at Coveñas. Workers were harassed by Motilone Indians defending their territory, and several died. The concession began operation in 1939 and continued into the 1960s, when it began to be depleted. Other fields in the region are still productive.
The oilfield lies in the Norte de Santander department, in the east of the country, in the Catatumbo River basin. The oilfield is part of the Maracaibo Basin, which spans Colombia and Venezuela. To the west it is bounded by the Santander Massif and the Sierra de Perija, parts of the Cordillera Oriental, a northern extension of the Andes. To the south and southeast, it is bounded by the Mérida Andes, and to the east, by the Venezuelan border. The Venezuelan part of the oilfield has produced several billion barrels of oil. By 2007 the different fields in the Catatumbo sub-basin had produced more than 800 million barrels of oil. The Barco concession is estimated to have held between 250 and 300 million barrels.
The Catatumbo River is 300 kilometres (190 mi) long, of which the first 100 km (62 mi) is in Colombia. About 63% of the river basin lies in Colombian territory. The Catatumbo provides 70% of Lake Maracaibo's fresh water. By the early 2000s the river had become highly polluted, with sewage and industrial waste dumped into the river in Colombia, and pesticides and chemical fertilizers washed into the river further down in Venezuela. Guerilla groups in Colombia had also blown up sections of the oil pipeline, and despite containment efforts, some of the spilled oil had also contaminated the river.
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Wikipedia