Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 03 2022

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He went on to say that he hoped to work with that might stem from decarbonisation cam-
other Latin American leaders to set up an alli- paigns by raising taxes on certain types of
ance to fight climate change and advocate for agricultural imports. This measure would help
environmentally sound policies. This might take “defend” the national economy while also creat-
the form of “a grand coalition of powers that can ing millions of jobs, he told El Tiempo.
speak much more strongly in a global context Additionally, Petro called on Colombia’s
to fight against climate change and to transition national oil company (NOC) Ecopetrol to
Latin America toward economies that are decar- switch its focus to solar and wind energy pro-
bonised, productive and based on knowledge,” jects. He urged the state-owned firm to make
he told Bloomberg. changes as rapidly as possible, saying: “If there’s
Petro named Gabriel Boric, the presi- no one who’ll buy Colombian carbon or oil, we
dent-elect of Chile, and Luiz Inacio Lula da need to react quick.”
Silva, the former president of Brazil, as possible This is not the first time the candidate has
members of his proposed alliance. He also said expressed the desire to halt oil and gas licens-
he had spoken to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro ing. He made nearly identical proposals in 2018,
Sanchez about the idea but voiced doubts about when he last sought the presidency. This time,
including Mexican President Andres Manuel though, his prospects for winning the election
Lopez Obrador, noting that the latter showed are more solid; he is currently the highest-poll-
favour to extractive industries. ing candidate in the race.
Critics of Petro’s stance against fossil fuels Colombians are due to go to the polls in
have argued that the country can ill afford to March for parliamentary elections and will
forego the revenues generated by oil and gas return in May for the presidential vote. If nec-
extraction – or by coal mining. The candidate essary, a run-off election will follow in June. ™
has responded, though, by saying that Colombia
can use its own natural beauty to generate tour-
ism revenues, provided that it can secure peace
among the armed groups that still roam parts
of the countryside. (Petro himself is a former
member of a guerrilla group known as M-19 but
dropped that affiliation more than 30 years ago.)
Petro, a long-time left-wing activist, told El
Tiempo in an interview last year that if he was
elected, his government would seek to attract
investment from companies that prioritised
reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. This
switch is necessary in order to prevent climate
change, as a matter of national security, he
asserted. Colombia must leave 80% of its fossil
fuel reserves undeveloped in order to support
efforts to limit the rise in global temperatures to
1.5 degrees Celsius or less, he said.
He went on to say that Colombia could com-
pensate for some of the economic disruption Petro is the highest-polling candidate in the presidential race (Photo: Facebook)

GUYANA
Guyana committed to open bidding

process for Block C, minister says

GUYANA is determined to offer Block C, one offered to carry out a 3D seismic study at Block
of its last remaining deepwater licence areas, to C at no cost to Guyana.
potential investors through an open bidding The government has not yet decided whether
process, even though it has already received a to accept the offer but will do so before it calls a
strong expression of interest (EoI) from one par- tender for the site, he said.
ticular firm, Natural Resources Minister Vick- He did not name the interested party but
ram Bharrat has said. acknowledged that the proposed seismic survey
Bharrat told OilNOW.gy earlier this week would provide Guyana with valuable informa-
that the company in question had already tion on Block C.

Week 03 20•January•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7