Monday, June 15th, 2026
Presidential candidate Abelardo De la Espriella released a gas policy document on June 11 outlining his administration’s approach to resolving Colombia’s looming supply deficit, with vice-presidential candidate and former minister José Manuel Restrepo serving as the technical face of the proposal.
Colombia’s May 2026 headline inflation rose to 5.84%, according to DANE, with the main drivers in rental housing, water supply, food, and restaurants. Within the utilities subcomponent, however, gas performed strikingly differently: residential gas prices rose just 0.45% month-on-month, contributing a negligible 0.01 percentage points to overall inflation.
The Colombian stock market became briefly the best-performing bourse in the world on June 1, with the MSCI Colcap index surging around 6% in early trading after Abelardo de la Espriella topped the presidential first round with 43.7% of the vote, a margin well above what Wall Street consensus had expected.
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) — the propane-butane blend sold in cylinder form in Colombian homes — is emerging as an increasingly strategic energy source at precisely the moment the country’s natural gas supply is under the greatest pressure it has faced in years.
Colombia’s crude oil exports hit their highest level since July 2022 in April 2026, reaching US$1.62B for the month — a surge driven not by increased output but by Iran War-driven price strength in international markets.
The Petro administration has designated 1.5 million hectares of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta as a Renewable Natural Resources Reserve, barring new mining concessions and hydrocarbon exploration and production contracts across the entire area.
Foreign direct investment in Colombia’s oil sector fell more than 7% year-on-year in Q1 2026, reaching US$589M against US$634M in the same period of 2025, according to Banco de la República data.
2026, Hydrocarbons Colombia, All Rights Reserved.
