19-06-09 Canadian energy company Pacific Rubiales plans to put into operation an oil pipeline in Colombia with an initial capacity of 60,000 bpd, the company's vice president of projects, Eduardo Lima, said.
The new 235-km (145-mile) pipeline will carry crude from fields the company jointly operates with Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol in Rubiales, in the central province of Meta, to a pumping station in Monterrey, a municipality in the eastern province of Casnare, Lima said in the Caribbean city of Cartagena.

The pipeline will form part of the country's current 8,000-km pipeline network. Pacific Rubiales' goal is to transport 100,000 barrels of crude per day by the end of 2009 and 150,000 bpd by the end of 2010, an amount equivalent to 25 % of Colombia's total crude production.
"We have 28 exploration or production areas in Colombia, in the eastern plains, all of it heavy crude" and gas production in northern Colombia, Lima said.

Pacific Rubiales sees great potential in Colombia's vast eastern plains and therefore considers Ecopetrol's production goal of 1 mm bpd to be "easily attainable," Lima said.
The $ 530 mm pipeline is part of Pacific Rubiales' $ 1.6 bn investment plan in Colombia during the 2008-2012 period. The energy company also announced that it will issue bonds in the second half of 2009 to finance close to $ 200 mm of the project's total cost. Pacific Rubiales representatives currently are taking part in the 5th International Mining, Petroleum and Gas Congress in Cartagena.