Colombia Targets Shale Gas Potential

Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol plans to spend $500mn between 2019 and 2021 on pilot programmes aimed at boosting the country’s natural gas reserves and improving energy security, CEO Felipe Bayon said March 12 at IHS Markit’s CeraWeek in Houston.

Colombia’s unconventional gas resources have the potential to add another 10 trillion ft³ of reserves, Bayon said. The Andean country’s proved gas reserves were a mere 3.9 trillion ft³ at year-end 2017, according to BP’s Statistical Review of Energy, while its reserves-to-production ratio was 10.8 years.

“We have to increase reserves a bit but we need to do more, so exploration in Colombia is critical,” Bayon said. “This pilot will allow us to take control of our destiny as a country.”