BOGOTA (Reuters) -- A U.S. oil firm is due to drill a controversial test well in
                  September in a disputed corner of northeast Colombia where U'wa Indians have
                  even threatened to commit mass suicide to defend what they claim as ancestral
                  land rights, the country's oil association chief said on Friday.

                  Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum had been due to sink the Gibraltar-1
                  well, at an estimated cost of $40 million, in the first half of this year in the
                  so-called Samore block just outside the government-mandated limits of the U'wa
                  reservation.

                  The block has been hailed as the country's biggest oil prospect, with potential
                  crude reserves of between 2 billion and 2.5 billion barrels. If test drills are
                  successful the field could ensure supplies of oil, Colombia's top export earner,
                  well into the next decade.

                  Leaders of the 7,000-member U'wa community
                  have so far blocked drilling efforts with legal
                  action and other protests, insisting the well site
                  encroached on much wider ancestral lands that
                  belonged to their semi-nomadic forebears.

                  But in Bogota, Alejandro Martinez, the head of the Colombian Oil Association
                  which represents private sector oil firms, said:

                  "They (Occidental) are completing civil engineering works in order to begin
                  drilling in Samore in September. There were a couple of incidents, they should
                  have begun in June but it was delayed to September."

                  Occidental chiefs were not immediately available for comment in Colombia.

                  In the past, the U'was have threatened to commit mass suicide to defend their
                  land and protect the oil which they view as the "lifeblood of Mother Earth."

                  Marxist guerrillas that operate in the region and are opposed to foreign
                  multinational involvement in the oil industry have also attacked construction and
                  engineering equipment causing further setbacks.

                  The U'was have received strong backing in their fight against Occidental from
                  U.S.-based environmental groups.

                  Last year, three U.S. citizens working with the U'was in northeast Colombia
                  were kidnapped and murdered by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
                  (FARC) rebels and their bodies dumped across the border with neighboring
                  Venezuela.

                  The land dispute first flared in 1992 when Occidental was granted exploration
                  rights to the 500,000 acre (200,000 hectare) block. Last year, the government
                  increased the size of the U'wa reservation in a failed bid to resolve the wrangle.

                  Colombia currently produces an average 710,000 barrels per day of crude and
                  exported some $2.2 billion of oil in the first half of this year.

                  But proven reserves, which now stand at 2.3 billion barrels, are dwindling and
                  could force the country to become a net oil importer again by 2005 if no major
                  new finds are made.

                  U.S. oil company to drill on Colombia land
                  claimed by Indians

                  August 18, 2000
                  Web posted at: 1:57 PM EDT (1757 GMT)

                  BOGOTA (Reuters) -- A U.S. oil firm is due to drill a controversial test well in
                  September in a disputed corner of northeast Colombia where U'wa Indians have
                  even threatened to commit mass suicide to defend what they claim as ancestral
                  land rights, the country's oil association chief said on Friday.

                  Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum had been due to sink the Gibraltar-1
                  well, at an estimated cost of $40 million, in the first half of this year in the
                  so-called Samore block just outside the government-mandated limits of the U'wa
                  reservation.

                  The block has been hailed as the country's biggest oil prospect, with potential
                  crude reserves of between 2 billion and 2.5 billion barrels. If test drills are
                  successful the field could ensure supplies of oil, Colombia's top export earner,
                  well into the next decade.

                  Leaders of the 7,000-member U'wa community
                  have so far blocked drilling efforts with legal
                  action and other protests, insisting the well site
                  encroached on much wider ancestral lands that
                  belonged to their semi-nomadic forebears.

                  But in Bogota, Alejandro Martinez, the head of the Colombian Oil Association
                  which represents private sector oil firms, said:

                  "They (Occidental) are completing civil engineering works in order to begin
                  drilling in Samore in September. There were a couple of incidents, they should
                  have begun in June but it was delayed to September."

                  Occidental chiefs were not immediately available for comment in Colombia.

                  In the past, the U'was have threatened to commit mass suicide to defend their
                  land and protect the oil which they view as the "lifeblood of Mother Earth."

                  Marxist guerrillas that operate in the region and are opposed to foreign
                  multinational involvement in the oil industry have also attacked construction and
                  engineering equipment causing further setbacks.

                  The U'was have received strong backing in their fight against Occidental from
                  U.S.-based environmental groups.

                  Last year, three U.S. citizens working with the U'was in northeast Colombia
                  were kidnapped and murdered by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
                  (FARC) rebels and their bodies dumped across the border with neighboring
                  Venezuela.

                  The land dispute first flared in 1992 when Occidental was granted exploration
                  rights to the 500,000 acre (200,000 hectare) block. Last year, the government
                  increased the size of the U'wa reservation in a failed bid to resolve the wrangle.

                  Colombia currently produces an average 710,000 barrels per day of crude and
                  exported some $2.2 billion of oil in the first half of this year.

                  But proven reserves, which now stand at 2.3 billion barrels, are dwindling and
                  could force the country to become a net oil importer again by 2005 if no major
                  new finds are made.

                  U.S. oil company to drill on Colombia land
                  claimed by Indians

                  August 18, 2000
                  Web posted at: 1:57 PM EDT (1757 GMT)

                  BOGOTA (Reuters) -- A U.S. oil firm is due to drill a controversial test well in
                  September in a disputed corner of northeast Colombia where U'wa Indians have
                  even threatened to commit mass suicide to defend what they claim as ancestral
                  land rights, the country's oil association chief said on Friday.

                  Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum had been due to sink the Gibraltar-1
                  well, at an estimated cost of $40 million, in the first half of this year in the
                  so-called Samore block just outside the government-mandated limits of the U'wa
                  reservation.

                  The block has been hailed as the country's biggest oil prospect, with potential
                  crude reserves of between 2 billion and 2.5 billion barrels. If test drills are
                  successful the field could ensure supplies of oil, Colombia's top export earner,
                  well into the next decade.

                  Leaders of the 7,000-member U'wa community
                  have so far blocked drilling efforts with legal
                  action and other protests, insisting the well site
                  encroached on much wider ancestral lands that
                  belonged to their semi-nomadic forebears.

                  But in Bogota, Alejandro Martinez, the head of the Colombian Oil Association
                  which represents private sector oil firms, said:

                  "They (Occidental) are completing civil engineering works in order to begin
                  drilling in Samore in September. There were a couple of incidents, they should
                  have begun in June but it was delayed to September."

                  Occidental chiefs were not immediately available for comment in Colombia.

                  In the past, the U'was have threatened to commit mass suicide to defend their
                  land and protect the oil which they view as the "lifeblood of Mother Earth."

                  Marxist guerrillas that operate in the region and are opposed to foreign
                  multinational involvement in the oil industry have also attacked construction and
                  engineering equipment causing further setbacks.

                  The U'was have received strong backing in their fight against Occidental from
                  U.S.-based environmental groups.

                  Last year, three U.S. citizens working with the U'was in northeast Colombia
                  were kidnapped and murdered by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
                  (FARC) rebels and their bodies dumped across the border with neighboring
                  Venezuela.

                  The land dispute first flared in 1992 when Occidental was granted exploration
                  rights to the 500,000 acre (200,000 hectare) block. Last year, the government
                  increased the size of the U'wa reservation in a failed bid to resolve the wrangle.

                  Colombia currently produces an average 710,000 barrels per day of crude and
                  exported some $2.2 billion of oil in the first half of this year.

                  But proven reserves, which now stand at 2.3 billion barrels, are dwindling and
                  could force the country to become a net oil importer again by 2005 if no major
                  new finds are made.