Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 23 2022

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

(Image based on materials from Petro (R) and Hernandez (L) Twitter feeds)
Colombia’s oil industry

awaits election results

The South American state is gearing up for a run-off between Petro, a left-wing candidate who wants

to halt new exploration, and Hernandez, a right-wing populist who has little to say about oil and gas

COLOMBIA has been a relatively congenial better candidate than Venezuela to provide extra
place for international oil companies (IOCs) support to global oil markets.
WHAT: since 2018, when Ivan Duque assumed the Specifically, he said his country had laid a
The next round of presidency. solid foundation for increasing production
Colombia’s presidential Duque has made his overall support for the levels, while Venezuela had not adequately
election will take place development of the country’s crude oil and addressed the serious technical problems with
on June 19. natural gas reserves clear, and he has specif- production and processing infrastructure that
ically backed plans for exploring new types of were constraining yields.
WHY: resources, such as deepwater offshore blocks As such, the president’s ineligibility to secure
The outcome of the vote and unconventional onshore fields where drill- another term in office in this year’s elections is
will have an impact on ing projects need support from foreign partners probably a source of some regret for IOCs – and
the oil and gas sector. with access to advanced technologies. for the Western officials seeking to promote
He has also been eager to engage in high- energy co-operation. Nevertheless, Duque is set
WHAT NEXT: level energy diplomacy since the outbreak of to leave office this year, and Colombia is head-
A Petro victory would war in Ukraine. In April, for example, he talked ing for a political transition. It took the first step
close off new exploration about his country’s willingness to work with the toward that transition in late May, when it held
opportunities, while a
Hernandez win might US government to ramp up crude production the first round of its presidential election.
leave the status quo in order to replace the barrels that have been
mostly intact. displaced from world markets now that Russia Leftward shift
is facing sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine. Until recently, it appeared that this transition
Also in April, he described Colombia as a was likely to involve an ideological shift.

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