The Siriri Oil Project

Table of Contents   The Siriri Oil Project Cultural Triumph! - OXY Pulls Out Government Seeks Investments, The U'wa Vow To Resist The U'wa Story What The U'wa Want Oil, Militarization and Indigenous Peoples

In 1992, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Royal Dutch Shell acquired oil exploration rights to U'wa ancestral land in partnership with the Colombian government. In 1997, under pressure from human rights and environmental groups, Royal Dutch Shell pulled out of the project, fearing a repeat of the human rights violations and ensuing international pressure that marred their Nigerian operations. After a decade-long international solidarity campaign and $100 million spent fruitlessly on exploratory drilling, OXY also pulled out of the project in May 2002.

Originally, OXY estimated that its Siriri drilling block (formally called Samoré) would yield 1.5 billion barrels of oil - an amount that would meet US consumption levels for a mere three months.

© 1998 Laksmi/Amazon Watch. 'Bloody' pipeline is installed into Oxy's lobby with three activists locked inside. April 1998.

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