Minister Edwin Palma used the opening of the Foro de Gas 2026 in Bogotá on July 30 – the same day SPEC’s scheduled five-day maintenance began – to issue a formal government guarantee of continuous essential gas and electricity supply through August 3.
With fewer than two weeks left in his administration, President Gustavo Petro declared a national disaster for El Niño on July 23 and routed CoP$8T through the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD).
Naturgas president Luz Stella Murgas publicly rejected statements made by Colgas’s chief executive – who had told media that natural gas prices would increase – describing the claims as “imprecise and without technical basis” that create unnecessary confusion and misinform users.
Ecopetrol and Petrobras marked a milestone in their pre-production social commitments for the Sirius offshore project on July 23, formally delivering piped natural gas connections to 1,500 families in Riohacha, Manaure, and Dibulla, alongside 1,500 new stoves distributed free of charge to guarantee immediate use of the service.
Colombia’s most consequential gas supply event of 2026 begins Thursday. SPEC confirmed its maintenance window runs July 30th to August 3rd, with the coordination process for the five-day closure having involved thermal generators, non-thermal terminal users, the FSRU operator, and energy sector authorities.
The Foro del Gas 2026, organized by the Bolsa Mercantil de Colombia (BMC) and the Consejo Nacional de Operación de Gas Natural (CNO-Gas), takes starts Thursday July 30th at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bogotá, the same day SPEC’s scheduled maintenance begins, making the timing unusually pointed.
Ecopetrol announced on July 22nd that it has secured nine Contingency Supply Contracts making 81 GBTUD of natural gas available to the market to backstop supply during the SPEC LNG regasification terminal’s scheduled maintenance from July 30th to August 3rd.
Tomás González, former Minister of Mines and Energy and current director of the Centro Regional de Estudios de Energía (CREE), used a recent interview with El Tiempo’s María Isabel Rueda to deliver both his most direct assessment of the energy crisis the incoming government inherits and his most explicit argument for why hydrocarbons – not just renewables – are Colombia’s path out of it.
The Regasificadora del Pacífico (RDP) project in Guadalajara de Buga, Valle del Cauca has surpassed 80% construction completion and remains on track to enter commercial operations before year-end, then-Mines and Energy Minister Edwin Palma confirmed during a July 16 site visit.
The Canacol Energy case moved into its Colombian legal chapter on July 16th when Promigas and Gases del Caribe confirmed to El Heraldo that the Alberta Court of King’s Bench had issued formal termination orders for their supply and transport contracts with the Canadian gas producer.
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