(Reuters, 16.Dec.2021) — There were no counter-offers for oil and gas blocs in Colombia’s latest licensing round, but contracts for 30 blocs which received bids will be signed in the coming days, the government said on Thursday.
The oil and gas industry is a major source of income and foreign exchange for Colombia and the government is pushing to grow reserves in the face of just 6.3 years worth of proven oil reserves and 7.7 years of gas.
Initial bids placed on Dec. 2 had a combined estimated investment value of more than $148 million, according to the national hydrocarbons agency (ANH).
“The adjudication of 30 areas, out of 53 under consideration, is confirmed in the 2021 Colombia round, a success rate of 56%,” the ANH said in a short bulletin.
Parex Resources (PXT.TO) placed more than half of the bids earlier this month, while Colombia’s majority state-owned oil company Ecopetrol (ECO.CN) and its subsidiary, Hocol, bid on five.
Other companies which have now won contracts include Lewis Energy, Maurel & Prom (MAUP.PA), Frontera Energy (FEC.TO), and CNE Oil & Gas, which is owned by Canacol Energy (CNE.TO).
The 30 new contracts will send the government past its target of signing 50 oil and gas contracts during the term of President Ivan Duque, which ends in August 2022.
Combined with contracts signed in previous years, secured deals during the administration total 69 blocks.
The government had put forward 28 blocks for bidding ahead of the auction, while the oil and gas industry had nominated a further 25 areas for consideration.
Latin America’s fourth-largest economy signed just four hydrocarbon contracts with two companies during last year’s auction amid the coronavirus pandemic.
____________________
By Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
