Occidental Petroleum drops drilling plans in Colombia.

• Author: Dhar, Arunima
• Position: Environmental Intelligence - In response to U'wa tribe protests - Brief Article

Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum on May 3 announced that it would abandon its controversial efforts to drill for oil in Colombia's Siriri (formerly Samore) oil block. The oil block lies on lands historically controlled by the U'wa indigenous tribe, which has resisted the oil project for a decade by threatening mass suicide, blocking work at the drilling site, and conducting an international campaign against the corporation.

Occidental spokesman Larry Meriage said that the company decided it was no longer fiscally viable to continue with the exploratory drilling. According to company reports, the likelihood of striking oil was 1 in 12. In July 2001, Occidental failed to find oil at Siriri's Gibraltar 1 test well, despite initial seismic tests that had estimated a potentially rich reservoir of 1.5 billion barrels at the site.

"This was the news we were waiting for," said U'wa spokesman Ebaristo Tegria. "This is the result of the work of U'wa and our friends from around the world." The U'wa, who believe that oil is the blood of the Earth, fear that oil development near their lands would drag them into crossfire between leftist guerrillas and the Colombian military. Since 1986 guerrilla groups have bombed oil pipelines...