Pacific Rubiales, which operates oil fields in Colombia that produce 240,000 barrels a day, said it could suspend operations at a moment’s notice.Jose Miguel Gomez/Reuters
Colombia sent 400 additional police to guard Colombia's largest oil field after Canada's Pacific Rubiales threatened to suspend operations there unless reinforcements were sent to help quell a violent demonstration.
"Security forces have been reinforced by way of the National Police. A general has been sent to take command of police activities with very specific instruction to arrest anyone who breaks the law," Energy Minister Mauricio Cardenas said on Wednesday.
Alarmed when masked demonstrators set fire to worker housing on Tuesday, the company said it could suspend operations at a moment's notice at the Rubiales and Quifa fields in eastern Meta province that produce 240,000 barrels a day.
Pacific Rubiales shares fell in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Mr. Cardenas labelled the company warning unnecessary, saying the government was "perfectly capable" of protecting oil companies from violent demonstrators, heavily armed criminal gangs and leftist guerrillas.
"We are telling oil companies … there is no reason to make pronouncements that put into question the continuity of their operations in Colombia," Mr. Cardenas said.
Similar protests in September led the company to declare force majeure and suspend operations for several days, but operations continued normally on Wednesday, Mr. Cardenas said.
The arson attack coincided with a strike by some 4,000 Colombian workers who renewed a work stoppage Monday against Pacific Rubiales, staging a peaceful demonstration.
The company did not link the violence to the striking workers, but it also described a wider climate of insecurity because of criminal gangs operating nearby.
The USO union that called the strike has rejected the violence, and Mr. Cardenas said the ministry would stay out of the labour dispute.
The previous protests were a major reason national production fell to 891,000 barrels a day in September from more than 953,000 barrels a day in August. The country hopes production reaches one million barrels a day by the end of the year.
An oil boom in Colombia largely became possible after the army opened swaths of territory to foreign investors with a military offensive against leftist guerrillas starting in 2002. Since then, drug-funded criminal gangs and guerrillas have targeted company installations and workers.
Colombia is the fourth-largest oil producer in Latin America behind Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil.