Colombian government will put a magnifying glass on oil contracts

The Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy, Irene Vélez, has not yet explained if the Government made the final decision to deliver new exploration contracts for hydrocarbons, but while that has a fixed point, she indicated that they will work to eliminate the alleged bottlenecks that there is in the sector; That means reviewing which titles have been awarded in the past, how they are doing, which of them are on pause and how they can be reactivated.

For this reason, the Minister of Finance, José Antonio Ocampo, now explained to the Financial Times that there is a group of 180 contracts that should already be running, and their results will be examined to detect whether it is necessary to open new ones. Likewise, the head of the economic portfolio explained that the Government will aim at energy self-sufficiency.

“The Government would analyze the 180 contracts before deciding whether to comply with the commitment, then we will see if new contracts are necessary,” Ocampo said, adding that any energy transition that reduces exports “would have to be gradual” and prioritize self-supply of gas.” .

Just last week, the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) and the Colombian Oil and Gas Association (ACP) announced that there will be a new technical panel to review not only 180, but 380 contracts and understand which ones are on hold for reasons associated with the public order, social conflict and environmental procedures, among others.

Ocampo insisted that everything is about a job to have clean finances and that Colombia continues to be a reliable market.

And it is not the only one from the Government, last week the Development Plan, which published its bases, revealed that the currencies of the extractive sector generate 70% of external sales and that is why “it cannot happen overnight” to other sources.

From the MinEnergy they have also defined that, within the contracts in execution, 29 have been prioritized, whose materiality could represent the incorporation of up to 5.6 times the proven commercial gas reserves in the country, and that, currently, there are 35 suspended contracts .

According to the official, the main reasons for suspension are: Social Conflict; Public order; and Environmental Procedure.