- Trade group forecasts crude-production drop of as much as 7.2%
- Energy explorers asked government to suspend 60 contracts
According to Bloomberg article published on April 13, 2023, Colombian crude output will drop this year as pipeline bombings, civil disorder and dwindling investment in new drilling, according to an oilfield-services trade group.
The nation’s oil production may fall by more than 7% to a daily average of 700,000 barrels this year, the Colombian Chamber of Oil Goods and Services, or Campetrol, said in a report on Wednesday. The dour forecast comes as President Gustavo Petro’s administration awaits updated petroleum-reserves data that’s expected to inform overall energy policy. Petro was elected last year on a promise to wean the Latin American nation off of fossil-fuel dependency.
Oil explorers have asked the government to suspend roughly 60 contracts because of public-order issues, Campetrol said. Sinochem Group’s Emerald Energy requested a suspension after local residents stormed its Amazonian oil project earlier this year and took dozens of police and workers hostage.
Pipeline attacks also are on the rise, with the nation’s Cano Limon-Covenas conduit experiencing seven incidents during the first quarter — half the total for all of 2022, according to state-run Ecopetrol SA’s pipeline unit.
