Colombia’s National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) used the XXIII ACIPET Petroleum, Gas and Energy Congress in Bucaramanga to lay out both the scale of the country’s exploration slowdown and its plan to reverse it.
The Colombian Association of Petroleum Engineers (Acipet) laid out a formal three-proposal package for the government at its Congress on Oil, Gas and Energy in Bucaramanga.
New Ecopetrol president Joaquín Gutiérrez Caballero used his swearing-in at La Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino in Santa Marta to announce that the company will resume both fracking and offshore exploration.
Colombia risks “dismantling, by omission, its own growth engine,” warns Álvaro J. Rodríguez, partner at Posse Herrera Ruiz, even as Brent crude climbs back above US$100/bl on renewed Middle East tension.
Vice President José Manuel Restrepo announced what he called a full reversal of the state’s energy and extractive-sector policy, confirming the formal return of hydrocarbons exploration contracts and expanded critical-mineral development.
Valora Analitik obtained a draft decree the De la Espriella government is preparing to regulate offshore oil and gas production, covering operations Ecopetrol develops directly, agreements with Ecopetrol and partners, or agreements with the Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH).
The Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos announced the creation of the Grupo Estratégico de Aceleración de Proyectos de Gas (GEAPG), a temporary institutional coordination mechanism aimed at accelerating new natural gas volumes into the market as El Niño approaches.
President Abelardo De la Espriella’s arrival has revived hopes of restoring Colombia’s natural gas self-sufficiency through unconventional reservoir development, with industry experts pointing to substantial potential across eight basins beyond the long-discussed Middle Magdalena Valley, following more than 15 years of regulatory and environmental debate.
Arrow Exploration announced results from three new wells at its Icaco field on the Tapir Block in Colombia’s Llanos Basin, where the company holds a 50% beneficial interest, all drilled on time and under budget.
Petrobras and Ecopetrol confirmed a new natural gas discovery with the drilling of the Sandía-1 exploration well, located in the GUA-OFF-0 block in deep water offshore Colombia.