Colombia

Colombia’s state oil and gas firm Ecopetrol SA has decided to pause its hydraulic fracturing (fracking) pilots for 90 days. Ecopetrol was involved in two horizontal drilling pilot programs, Kalé and Platero, in conjunction with ExxonMobil. Colombia has 55 Tcf of technically recoverable shale gas resources, which would place it fifth in South America, according…

National oil companies (NOCs) in Latin America enjoyed record profits in the second quarter on the back of high oil and gas prices, but they remain under pressure from governments facing economic crises. The high oil and gas price environment “has come with a downside which is that in the domestic market, it is very…

Former Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro beat businessman and Tik-Tok star Rodolfo Hernández earlier this month to become Colombia’s first leftist president with promises to upend the country’s oil and gas sector. Petro proposes “a very significant change in the energy sector,” Sergio Guzman, the director of local risk consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis told NGI. During…

Colombian national oil company Ecopetrol SA and a unit of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) have signed a deal to jointly explore four deepwater areas in the Caribbean. Blocks COL 1, COL 2, COL 6 and COL 7 are located, on average, about 150 kilometers or 93 miles off Colombia’s northern coast. The companies, which also…

Colombia’s oil and gas production along with its proven reserves are falling and investment will likely fail to recover to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels this decade, according to new analysis from Rystad Energy. Colombia is Latin America’s third-largest oil and gas producer behind Brazil and Mexico, but crude oil production this year is on track to…

Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol SA has recovered from a production blip in the second quarter and is upping capital expenditures (capex) for 2022 executives said during a recent conference call. Months of anti-government protests starting in late April hampered oil and gas activity in the country in the first half of this year. However,…

Colombia’s Ecopetrol SA saw its production take a hit in the second quarter because of social unrest in the country but management foresees a strong recovery this year. Ecopetrol was also boosted in the second quarter by its joint venture (JV) with Occidental Petroleum Corp. in the Permian Basin’s Midland formation in West Texas. “Social…

Colombia’s key oil and gas industry has started to feel the impacts of nationwide protests that have dragged on for three weeks. On Wednesday, Energy Minister Diego Mesa said overall oil production had dropped below the 700,000 b/d mark for the first time since 2009. Several producers working the country have publicly announced adverse impacts.…

Mexico’s Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is moving in the opposite direction of fellow Latin American national oil companies (NOCs) by failing to embrace the energy transition and natural gas, according to a panel of experts. While NOCs such as Colombia’s Ecopetrol SA and Brazil’s Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) have embraced diversification and environmental, social and governance…