News and AnalysIs for

The possible loss of oil self-sufficiency has been one of the main issues discussed in Colombia during last years. The development of unconventional deposits is one of the most attractive alternatives to solve this concern and the sector is ready to move forward on this issue.

The president of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), Orlando Velandia, spoke about prospects and projects for the sector in the first half of the year, among other topics.

Maria Fernanda Suarez, Minister of Mines and Energy (MinMinas), created a debate about the possibility of implementing unconventional techniques such as fracking in Colombia. Experts talked about this alternative.

Julio César Vera, president of the Colombian Association of Petroleum Engineers (Acipet), spoke about the importance of fracking to assure the country’s self-sufficiency.

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) spoke about what must be done to assure the success of the industry in Colombia.

This week we skip our ‘Last 8 years’ qualitative feature in favor of a guest contribution but we continue the series in our quantitative analysis column. Last week we looked at turnover in key policy positions. If policy instability put off investors, we would expect it to show up in investment and exploration statistics, which is what we look at here.

The Congress must decide what will happen with the bill that seeks to ban fracking in Colombia. Carlos Andrés Santiago, promoter of the project, spoke on the matter.

The Colombian government is making an important commitment to promote the development of offshore projects and take advantage of the Caribbean Sea potential. This has generated high expectations in the Caribbean region of the country, especially in the department of Atlántico. There, leaders are discussing about how to leverage these opportunities and their risks.

Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) continues to develop exploration activities in Colombia and it seems like the strategy is on the right track. The NOC announced a new discovery in the department of Cundinamarca.

The governor of Boyacá, Carlos Amaya, called for the temporary and immediate suspension of a contract for an alleged fracking project in the department, and asked the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) to educate the community about it.