Rebel attacks on Colombia's oil industry resume as majors prepare to bid on blocks

An old threat has resurfaced in Colombia that could derail its booming oil sector: a series of crippling attacks by Marxist rebels against pipelines and oil-truck convoys that the military has been unable to stop.

The new wave of attacks, most of them perpetrated by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a half-century-old insurgency, comes just as the government plans to auction 109 oil blocks that are expected to attract some of the largest private oil companies in the world.

This week, two drivers in an oil truck convoy were killed by a roadside bomb that authorities believe was planted by the FARC. A few weeks earlier a smaller guerrilla group, known as ELN, kidnapped and later released unharmed 11 people working for a company building what will be the country's largest oil pipeline.


Source: Wall Street Journal