Colombia awards 49 blocks in 2012 E&P round

ANH, the regulating body of the Colombian hydrocarbon industry, has awarded 49 blocks in the country’s Ronda Colombia 2012 E&P round. 105 bids were submitted, but eventually blocks were awarded to only 37 companies (11 of which have never operated in Colombia before) and are expected to attract approximately US$ 2.6 billion in investment. A second round is to be held on November 28 for remaining 51 blocks that were not awarded

State-backed Ecopetrol was awarded 12 blocks, seven of which came with partnerships involving ExxonMobil, Repsol, Shell, Hocol and Statoil.

According to the ANH website, other companies that were awarded blocks include: Perenco, Pluspetrol, Andes Argentina, Integra Oil & Gas, Gulfsands Petroleum, OGX, C&C Energy, Optima Range, Petroleos del Norte, Petroleos Sudamericanos, ONGC Videsh, Clean Energy Resources, Anadarko, Vetra and Petroleum Equipment.

Colombia, with its daily production of 914 000 bpd is one of South America’s major oil producers, with proven reserves of approximately 2.2. billion bbls. The country hopes to raise its daily output to 1 million bpd by the end of the year; Colombia’s Mining and Energy Minister, Federico Renjifo, was quoted as saying, “The important thing for Colombia is to increase its reserves.”

Edited from various sources by David Bizley

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