Restive Colombia imports fuel from Ecuador: Update

Ecuador is supplying at least 65,000 bl of motor fuel and LPG to Colombia to ease shortages resulting from more than two weeks of anti-government protests and roadblocks.

State-owned PetroEcuador confirmed the state-to-state short-term supply agreement, through which it provide wholesale supply of more than 20,000 bl of gasoline, 10,000 bl of diesel and 35,000 bl (3,000t) of LPG to private-sector distributors which in turn are trucking the fuel from Ecuador to Colombia's state-controlled Ecopetrol in Nariño department across the border.

Chilean Copec's distributor Terpel is loading 20,000 bl of extra gasoline and 10,000 bl of premium diesel at PetroEcuador's Esmeraldas and El Beaterio terminals, and has requested authorization for 260 t/d of LPG. Peru's Primax is authorized to load similar volumes for dispatch to Colombia, PetroEcuador said.

The first 3,300 bl tanker truck shipment crossed the border overnight, Ecuador's government said, following a 1 May request from Colombia's government for emergency fuel supply.

Ecopetrol is expected to supply an additional 3,300 bl of waterborne products at the Pacific port of Tumaco, after loading it at Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast, Colombia's mines and energy ministry told Argus.

Tumaco has been receiving fuel through this route since last week. Ecopetrol referred queries about the supply to the ministry.

The trucks loaded with Ecuadorean fuel will be able to transit Nariño's roads after indigenous communities agreed to open a humanitarian corridor for delivery of fuel, LPG, medicine, medical oxygen, food and ambulances, Colombian mines and energy minister Diego Mesa said.

The acute shortages ensued after protesters erected roadblocks across Colombia.

Colombian fuel retailers association Fendipetroleo estimates that nationwide motor fuel sales fell by 30pc from February levels of 138,000 b/d for gasoline and 117,000 b/d for diesel, undoing a return to pre-pandemic demand.

Fendipetroleo [told Argus](https://www2.argusmedia.com/en/news/2214019-qa-restive-colombia-restoring-fuel-supply?backToResults=true) that Nariño is normally supplied by tanker trucks from the Yumbo distribution hub in Valle del Cauca, but six roadblocks between Tumaco and Pasto — including two installed by armed group ELN — have impeded distribution.

Fendipetrol met with senior officials from the Colombian army, police and the ministry today to assess the fuel supply situation.

Initial talks collapse

Although protests in parts of Colombia have dissipated, in others the unrest has persisted, entering a third week even after President Ivan Duque withdrew a controversial tax reform bill that first ignited nationwide demonstrations on 28 April. A meeting yesterday between Duque and strike committee head and union leader Francisco Maltes came to nothing, and the committee called for more demonstrations today in Bogota and other cities.

At least 42 people have died and more than a thousand have been injured in clashes with the police, the ombudsman's office said yesterday. In addition, 1,161 marches have been registered throughout the country.

By Diana Delgado and Patricia Garip