Colombia imports fuel from Ecuador to ease deficit

Ecuador's state-owned PetroEcuador is supplying up to 1.2mn USG of motor fuel to ease shortages in Colombia's southern department of Nariño, after more than two weeks of unrest.

The first 140,000 USG of diesel and gasoline arrived at Colombian border city Ipiales yesterday to replenish depleted service stations, the mines and energy ministry said.

Colombia's state-controlled Ecopetrol is expected to supply an additional 140,000 USG of waterborne products at the Pacific port of Tumaco, after loading it at Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast, the ministry told Argus.

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

PetroEcuador told Argus it is preparing a statement on the supply agreement.

Tanker 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, medicine, LPG, medical oxygen, food and ambulances, mines and energy minister Diego Mesa said.

The acute shortages ensued after anti-government 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 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 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