Colombia soldiers rescue 5 kidnapped oil workers

Colombian armed forces on Tuesday rescued five subcontractor employees of Westwood-based Occidental Petroleum who were kidnapped near the Venezuelan border last week by suspected leftist guerrillas.

The kidnappings, which occurred Friday near an Oxy facility in Arauca state as the employees ate lunch at a roadside restaurant, comes as the Colombian government is trying to drum up investor interest in oil exploration here, touting the general improvement in security of recent years.

Gonzalo Valderrama, spokesman for Arauca Gov. Luis Ataya, said before a news conference by Colombian army officials that details of the rescue were still sketchy.

The five employees worked for two companies that had contracted with Occidental to service the pipeline connecting the company’s Cano Limon oil field with a depot on the Caribbean coast. The two companies are Tuboscope, a unit of National Oilwell Varco of Houston, and Tecnioriente, based in Arauca city, the state capital.

A sixth worker escaped shortly after being captured.

Spokesmen for Occidental and NOV declined to comment. A Tecnioriente worker confirmed that two of the freed captives were co-workers.

The men were kidnapped near the border with Venezuela, where rebels with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, go to rest or launch raids. The area also is a corridor for cocaine destined for North America and Europe.

Kidnappings have fallen significantly in Colombia since President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002. Pipeline bombings, which were a major disincentive for foreign oil companies in recent years, increased last year to 25 attacks.

That compares with nine in 2008, but is still significantly less than the 261 attacks seen in 2001.

Kraul is a special correspondent.