Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 39 2019

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil
Colombia’s next steps
The South American country is gearing up for the next bidding round, the start of offshore exploration drilling and pilot fracking projects over the next 18 months
WHAT:
Colombia has high hopes for several new oil and gas initiatives that are due to launch within the next year and a half.
WHY:
The outcome of these projects could set the course for future devel- opment campaigns.
WHAT NEXT:
Ecopetrol may seek new partners for
its pilot projects at unconventional fields..
COLOMBIA is gearing up for several major developments in the oil and gas sector over the next 18 months.
Upcoming auctions
One of these is the next bidding round, which will take place before the end of the year. According to Luis Miguel Morelli Navia, the head of the country’s national hydrocarbons agency (known by its Spanish acronym ANH), the auctions will cover 59 blocks, including five offshore licence areas and 24 sites that have the potential to yield natural gas.
Morelli said he hoped the bidding rounds would allow ANH to choose contractors for about one third of the blocks on offer. “We hope to sign 20,” he told Reuters in an interview. “Nor- mally, the success rate for assignments world- wide is 30%.”
The ANH chief went on to say that he expected 26 operators to pre-qualify for par- ticipation in the auctions. He did not name
any of these potential investors but said the list included companies from Canada, Norway and the US that are making their first forays in Colombia.
The bidding round could attract as much as $800mn in new investment commitments, Morelli stated.
Offshore drilling
Morelli also told Reuters that his agency expected foreign investors to spud exploration wells at four offshore sites – one assigned to the national oil company (NOC) Ecopetrol, one assigned to Royal Dutch Shell (UK-Nether- lands) and Noble Energy (US) and two assigned to a partnership formed by Ecopetrol, Exxon- Mobil (US) and Repsol (Spain) – within the next year and a half.
These drilling programmes could help lay the foundation for the success of Colombia’s future exploration plans, especially with respect to the search for new gas reserves, he said. 
Eagle LNG’s planned cpmplex in Jacksonville (Image: ANH)
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 39 03•October•2019