News and AnalysIs for

Colombia is not an oil country, but it has great potential to develop in this area, especially in some regions of the country, where the Llanos continue to stand out for contributing a large part of the oil production in the country.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) reported oil and gas production figures for February 2019. Crude and natural gas production increased during the second month of this year compared to the previous year.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently published its global oil report for 2019, which includes its perspectives on oil production. Colombia is included in this analysis and expectations are not very encouraging.

Venezuela is going through a severe political, social and economic crisis, which has deepened due to its poor performance in the oil sector. Colombia getting close to equaling the oil production of the neighboring country.

The US has implemented restrictions on Venezuelan oil to generate economic pressure on the Nicolas Maduro regime. This situation has generated opportunities for the Colombian oil sector.

Companies are publishing their annual reserve reports and for many of them, the headline number is a combined oil and gas figure. That got us thinking about a graph which we had not done for a long time: combined oil and gas production.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (TSX: GTE) announced its financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and year ended 2018. The company reported a record average annual production and the firm continues to demonstrate strong financial performance.

Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) reported its reserves as of December 31, 2018. The NOC reported positive results despite social problems and attacks on its infrastructure. Higher oil prices played a key role to increase this metric during the past year. De Golyer & MacNaughton, Gaffney, Cline & Associates and Sproule International Limited audited the majority of reserves (99%).

The spokesman for the Commission of Experts created by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) explained why the government should wait to implement this controversial technique.

In last week’s presentation by the Committee of Experts on Fracking, a great deal was made about the industry not having a ‘social license to operate’. That was a pretty broad brush, based on a small window. Just VMM and, as it turned out, maybe only a couple of communities within VMM.