How Colombia's Booming Cocaine Business Is Driving Rampant Oil Theft

[Judi Lynn]

By Matthew Smith - Aug 29, 2023, 4:00 PM CDT

Oil theft has soared in Colombia, partially fueled by increased coca cultivation, leading to a scandal involving Ecopetrol, the national oil company.

The oil stolen is often converted into a primitive form of gasoline, used in coca processing, contributing to both environmental degradation and the booming drug trade.

A network involving businessmen, government officials, and criminal bands has been uncovered, stealing oil worth at least $80 million and causing environmental and economic damage.

Surging petroleum theft is weighing on Colombia’s beaten-down oil industry, which is beset by geopolitical headwinds on all sides. While attacks on energy infrastructure in the strife-torn country have plunged over the last decade, the volume of oil being stolen in Colombia is soaring. In the past, petroleum theft has been blamed on the myriad illegal armed bands operating in Colombia with higher oil prices and soaring demand for gasoline to refine coca leaf, a key step in the manufacturing of cocaine, the key drivers. In a stunning development, a massive scandal concerning the theft of millions of dollars of petroleum from Colombia’s national oil company Ecopetrol, which is 88% state-controlled, was exposed. Petroleum theft is a pressing problem in Colombia, with the volume of crude oil and derivative products being stolen regularly surging to record annual highs over the last few years.

The theft of crude oil and gasoline from Ecopetrol-controlled pipelines is a lucrative activity for Colombia’s illegal armed groups, especially after petroleum prices spiked in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The primary driver for this phenomenon is the surge in Colombia’s coca cultivation and cocaine production, which hit yet another record high in 2021. The United Nations Office On Drugs And Crime (UNODC) reported that the amount of land under coca cultivation soared by 43% compared to a year earlier to a record 504,000 acres. This, the UNODC asserted, saw a record 1.1 million metric tons of coca leaf cultivated, which had the potential to produce 1,400 metric tons of cocaine hydrochloride, a 14% increase compared to 2020.

It is estimated that up to 75 gallons of gasoline is required to turn 600 kilograms of coca leaf into one kilogram of cocaine. In order to produce 1,400 metric tons of cocaine hydrochloride, somewhere in the order of 110 billion gallons of gasoline is required.

More:
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/How-Colombias-Booming-Cocaine-Business-Is-Driving-Rampant-Oil-Theft.html