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Mesa says Ecopetrol, IOCs are

gearing up for offshore drilling

COLOMBIAN Energy Minister Diego Mesa controversial new economic measures. Duque
has said he expects the national oil company later abandoned the plan, but the resulting
(NOC) Ecopetrol and several international oil unrest and roadblocks caused oil and petroleum
companies (IOCs) to launch new offshore drill- product output to sink.
ing programmes by the end of next year. Colombia’s government is keen to see crude
In an interview with Bloomberg, Mesa noted production levels rise. The country extracted
that Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands) was 781,000 barrels per day of oil in 2020, down
on track to start exploration drilling at a licence from 886,000 bpd in 2019. Officials in Bogotá
area in the Caribbean Sea later this year. Eco- have said they hope yields will rise to about
petrol aims to do the same in 2022, along with 800,000 bpd this year. ™
ExxonMobil (US) and Repsol (Spain), he added.
He did not divulge specific details of the
drilling programmes or say where the new wells
would be sunk. However, he did state that the
companies in question were working to secure
rigs in advance. He also said that the IOCs were
more interested in Colombia’s offshore zone
than in onshore opportunities.
“International oil companies are more
focused on the offshore potential,” he told
Bloomberg. “They are working on getting the
rigs for next year.”
Mesa went on to say that he expected Colom-
bia’s National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) to
sign contracts for at least 10 new offshore fields
this year. ANH launched Ronda Colombia 2021,
a new licensing round covering 32 onshore and
offshore blocks, earlier this year, and this process
is likely to see 10-15 blocks awarded to investors,
he said.
The minister did not comment on investors’
response to the bidding round. Colombia’s oil
and gas sector has experienced a significant
amount of disruption since late April, when pro-
tests broke out around the country in response
to President Ivan Duque’s plan to introduce Shell is due to begin drilling offshore Colombia this year (Image: Ecopetrol)

VENEZUEL A
Venezuelan oil exports rise in June

VENEZUELA succeeded in pushing oil export delivery volumes had averaged 631,900 bar-
volumes up in June, partly as a result of efforts to rels per day (bpd), up by 6.5% on the previous
send more crude to China before the introduc- month and by 66% on June 2020.
tion of a new import tax, according to a Reuters Reuters did not provide a full breakdown of
report. the export data. It did note, though, that Asian
The news agency reported last week that markets had absorbed the “lion’s share” of
the national oil company (PdVSA) and its joint deliveries. More than 37% of the total, or about
ventures with foreign partners had exported 23 238,000 bpd, went to Malaysia for transship-
cargoes of crude and refined fuels last month. ment or blending prior to being re-directed to
Citing documents from PdVSA, it said that China, it added.

Week 27 08•July•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9