Colombia’s natural gas industry association Naturgas issued two complementary public statements in April, together painting an urgent picture of a sector caught between short-term supply pressure and a structurally inadequate long-term pipeline.
Two complementary reports published by Naturgas on April 24 cover the same strategic development from different angles: the operational details of the Frontera Energy-Ecopetrol regasification project at Puerto Bahía, and a site visit by Ecopetrol’s acting president to inspect progress firsthand.
Colombia’s energy regulator CREG has issued Resolution 102 023 of 2026, enabling the conversion of existing hydrocarbon infrastructure into natural gas pipelines and establishing a framework for remuneration of the associated investments.
The Ecopetrol-Petrobras Colombia consortium has confirmed that first gas from the offshore Sirius field will be delivered in 2030, with the project currently in the contracting phase ahead of construction. The announcement came from both companies’ presidents at the Naturgas Congress in Cartagena.
Drummond Energy, the energy arm of US coal giant Drummond Ltd., is advancing plans to build a new liquefied natural gas regasification terminal at Ciénaga, Magdalena — a location adjacent to the company’s existing deep-water port infrastructure on the Caribbean coast approximately 10 km from Santa Marta.
Eni and Repsol have reached a new agreement with Venezuela to expand production at the Perla gas field in the Gulf of Venezuela — the largest gas discovery in Latin America — with an eye toward eventually exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG), though domestic supply requirements must be met first.
Speaking at the Naturgas industry association congress in Cartagena, Energy Minister Edwin Palma used a wide-ranging address to defend the government’s record on gas supply, reaffirm its no-new-exploration pledge, and signal an upcoming bilateral energy meeting with Venezuela – while acknowledging that past infrastructure decisions have left Colombia dangerously exposed on gas imports.
Frontera Energy and Ecopetrol are pressing toward a December 2026 commissioning of the Puerto Bahía regasification terminal in Cartagena, which would give Colombia its second LNG import point and — at full capacity — the ability to cover 40% of national gas demand, currently estimated at 1,000 mmcfd, according to La República.
The regasification terminal that Transportadora de Gas Internacional (TGI), a subsidiary of Grupo Energía Bogotá, announced in October 2025 for the Ballena field in La Guajira will not be ready in January 2027 as originally projected — and may now not enter service until early 2028.
Speaking at the Naturgas annual congress in Cartagena, Energy Minister Edwin Palma announced a proposal to implement an open season auction mechanism for viable regasification projects — a market instrument that would allow CREG to assess user demand before infrastructure is built, providing financial viability guarantees and efficient capacity allocation before capital is committed.
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