UPDATE 1-Colombia March crude output falls 7.4 percent

Tue May 6, 2003 11:30 AM ET (Updates with details, background)

BOGOTA, Colombia, May 6 (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - Colombian crude output in March fell to 552,756 barrels per day, down 7.4 percent compared with the 596,982 bpd in the same month a year ago, state oil company Ecopetrol said on Tuesday.

The March result was also only slightly higher than 545,986 bpd turned out in February, Ecopetrol said.

The company did not offer an explanation for the results, but analysts have attributed the year-on-year drop in production to a natural decline in oilfields in Latin America's No. 4 oil producer.

Colombia's largest oilfield, Cusiana-Cupiagua, operated by oil major BP Plc BP.L , produced 200,086 bpd in March, down 17 percent from the 241,286 bpd in same month last year.

Colombia's No. 2 oilfield, Cano Limon, operated by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Inc. OXY.N produced 100,914 bpd in March, up 35.7 percent from the 74,373 bpd in March 2002.

Rebel bombings of the Cano Limon crude export pipeline have fallen significantly over the past year, due to heightened security measures in the violent oil rich region near Colombia's northeastern border with Venezuela. U.S. Special Forces have also been sent to the region to help train troops in counterinsurgency techniques.

Colombia depends on Ecopetrol revenue and oil royalties to finance government operations, including a broad security agenda aimed at stemming a 40-year-old guerrilla war.

The conflict claims thousands of lives a year, and has hurt growth and scared off foreign investment including some oil exploration.