Three senior voices in Colombia’s energy sector used a La República forum panel on May 29 to deliver a coordinated indictment of current energy policy — and a set of prescriptions the next government will need to act on quickly if a blackout is to be avoided in the second half of the year.
The public utilities industry body Andesco issued a formal warning on May 21 that Colombia has a critical and non-extendable window of three to four months to take regulatory and operational action before El Niño drives the country into an energy supply crisis.
So earnings season comes to an end and, apart from a few special charges, a generally positive one. Brent over US$100/bl will do that. But, unsurprisingly perhaps, that is not what people are talking about
President Gustavo Petro launched a wide-ranging attack on Ecopetrol, political opponents, and business sectors in an extended post on X, centering his fire on what he described as the state oil company’s refusal to reduce its gas demand in the face of an accelerating climate crisis.
With a super El Niño expected to hit Colombia in the second half of 2026, Ecopetrol has outlined a two-track gas strategy: expanded import capacity and aggressive energy contracting to insulate the company from spot market volatility.
Colombia’s National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) has announced what it describes as landmark reductions in gas flaring and methane emissions across the hydrocarbons sector, framing the results as a signature environmental legacy of the current administration.
Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy is developing a formal roadmap to cut methane emissions from the hydrocarbons and coal sectors, in partnership with the Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE).
The Barrancabermeja refinery, Ecopetrol’s flagship processing facility in Santander, has reached its highest crude throughput in twenty years, processing 245,500 bd of crude — a level that has since climbed further to approximately 246,000 bd, according to Milton Lara, the plant’s acting general manager.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy has issued Resolution 40164 of 2026, a new regulatory framework governing the closure and abandonment of oil wells in Colombia that simultaneously tightens environmental safeguards and opens the door to repurposing subsurface infrastructure for clean energy applications.
The Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), Ecopetrol’s principal labor union, announced the creation of a scientific committee to evaluate the feasibility of hydraulic fracturing in Colombia — a move that placed the union in direct conflict with Energy Minister Edwin Palma, a former USO president himself, who promptly called his former colleagues mistaken.
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