Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development swore in its new leadership team on August 13, including Sergio Arturo Piñeros Botero as director of the Agencia Nacional de Licencias Ambientales (ANLA) — the agency responsible for environmental licensing of major hydrocarbons projects, from offshore exploration wells to pipeline infrastructure like SPEC’s recent capacity expansion.
Ecopetrol’s gas sales volume fell 22.1% in the second quarter of 2026, with gas now representing just 6.9% of the group’s total sales — down sharply from 10.6% in 2Q22, when Gustavo Petro took office.
Argentina has become Latin America’s benchmark for unconventional hydrocarbons development, and Colombia is now looking to that experience as it moves toward authorizing fracking under President Abelardo De la Espriella.
Colombia’s exports grew 7% in June and 14.2% for H1 2026, but the gains are concentrated almost entirely in oil, coal, and gold, while agricultural exports fell.
The Asociación Colombiana del Petróleo y Gas (ACP) released an economic report, “Combustibles Líquidos: Pilar de la Seguridad Energética,” arguing that ensuring liquid fuel supply and reliability – diesel in particular – will be essential to backing up the electricity system during El Niño.
Calamarí LNG and SPEC LNG announced they’ve received their 200th liquefied natural gas cargo from Trinidad and Tobago, bringing cumulative imports to 12.8 million cubic meters – equivalent to 265 TBTU injected into the National Transport System – at a moment when El Niño’s impacts are threatening electricity supply reliability.
The national government approved a modification to SPEC LNG’s environmental license in Cartagena, adding 58 mmcfd of natural gas capacity to strengthen the country’s supply.
Nearly two weeks after Colombia’s August 10 earthquake, natural gas reconnection remains incomplete across the hardest-hit regions, with roughly 10,100 users still without service as of August 14, according to Naturgas president Luz Stella Murgas, speaking from the ANDI Congress in Cartagena.
Montería mayor Hugo Kerguelén García met with Naturgas president Luz Stella Murgas and Surtigas general manager Jackeline Puente Alvarado to coordinate strategic projects expanding natural gas access across the city’s urban and rural areas still lacking service.
Colombia’s gasoline imports, which stood at 43% of national demand in 2025, are projected to climb to as much as 50% by early 2031, according to forecasts from the Asociación Colombiana del Petróleo y Gas (ACP)