Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Sounds like lots of opportunity, EB
Colombia's Ecopetrol must focus on growing its oil and gas production to fund the transition towards renewables, said Saul Kattan, the chairman of the majority state-run energy company.
Colombia could be a world leader in production of renewables like wind and green hydrogen, Kattan told Reuters late on Wednesday, but the company, the largest in the country, should still work to boost its output in fossil fuels.
Colombia will get the first pay-out of a $300m Climate Investment Funds pot for transmission lines, batteries, EV chargers and green hydrogen
Natural Gas Shortages In Colombia: Is An Energy Crisis Imminent?
For roughly a decade, Colombia’s national government in the capital Bogota has been grappling with growing natural gas supply constraints at a time when demand for the fuel is rising rapidly. The dwindling natural gas supply can be primarily blamed on inadequate proven reserves, a lack of exploration and aging mature gas fields with rising decline rates. By the end of 2021, according to Colombia’s energy ministry, the country had only 3.1 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, which at the current rate of production of around 1.1 million cubic feet daily, is only sufficient for another eight years. This points to current reserves being incapable of meeting domestic demand for natural gas in the near future. It is for this reason that Bogota started bulk imports of liquified petroleum gas in late-2017.
Sounds like great opportunities for alternative energy, thanks for sharing.
Good find, EB. Looks like the energy transition is on its way.. hope we get an update soon. Good luck longs.
Two of the largest operators in the country received 263 new Scania F280 buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) and equipped with Allison Torqmatic® Series fully automatic transmissions.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia - April 2023 - Allison Transmission, a leading designer and manufacturer of conventional and electrified vehicle propulsion solutions, and the largest global manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for commercial and defense vehicles, announces that for the first time, Organización SUMA S.A.S. and Consorcio Express S.A.S., among the largest transit operators in Colombia, are receiving 263 new Scania F280 buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) and equipped with Allison Torqmatic® Series fully automatic transmissions.
Colombia's Ecopetrol must focus on growing its oil and gas production to fund the transition towards renewables, said Saul Kattan, the chairman of the majority state-run energy company.
Colombia could be a world leader in the production of renewables like wind and green hydrogen, Kattan told Reuters late on Wednesday, but the company, the largest in the country, should still work to boost its output in fossil fuels.
Good read energy, the plans for energy transition look to be developing.
Canacol Energy will begin drilling two wells in the next month as IT STEPS UP its Colombian natural gas expansion plans, the company said on Wednesday.
Nailed it, thanks EB.
Hi bball, just Showing signs the market continues to shift and increase toward natural gas.. jmo hope you are well and hoping for the best longs!
Canacol eyes new 200MW gas-fired plant in Colombia
Canacol Energy has outlined plans to jointly develop a new 200MW thermoelectric project in Colombia as it seeks additional offtakers for its natural gas.
CEO Charle Gamba said the company would seek its first supply contracts for the plant at an auction for standby energy in August.
"We are currently registered to participate [in the auction]," Gamba told investors during a quarterly earnings call on Tuesday. "The new project is [expected] to enter into operation in 2027. We will maintain a relatively low interest as we did with the El Tesorito project, and our plan is to sell gas to that plant."
Gamba did not reveal the names of potential partners in the project, nor provide an investment forecast.
In a mid-range scenario, we'd look to connect 192,000 families to natural gas," Luz Stella Murgas, president of the Colombian Natural Gas Association (Naturgas), said in a press conference.
If financing can be secured, that target could rise to 650,000 families, she said, noting that the plan aims to reduce energy deprivation and cut costs for households.
Murgas did not detail the cost of the proposed investments but Jorge Ivan Gonzalez, director of the National Planning Department, said the government is looking to allocate resources from its national development plan being debated in Congress.
Colombia's proven commercial gas reserves stood at 3,164 giga cubic feet, equivalent to eight years of consumption, at the end of 2021, government data show.
Colombia has enough gas to begin exporting the fuel in future, Murgas said, citing recent off-shore discoveries, while rejecting notions of importing gas.
Petro wants to wean Colombia from its dependence on oil and coal and transition to greener options, something Gonzalez said would be impossible to do without fossil fuels.
d
This find "allows us to continue advancing towards the energy transition while strengthening our growing position as a natural gas producer in northern Colombia," Guzmán added.
Colombia's Hocol has made a new natural gas discovery at its onshore VIM-8 block in the country's north, the company said on Thursday.
Gas was identified during drilling of the Arrecife Norte-1 exploratory well, around 60km southeast of Monteria in Córdoba department.
This find "allows us to continue advancing towards the energy transition while strengthening our growing position as a natural gas producer in northern Colombia," Guzmán added.
That was my thinking too, maximizing existing contracts.
Colombia has moved to ease political risk concerns in the local oil and gas sector by vowing to encourage new exploration investments.
In a statement, the mines and energy ministry said its strategy for a "fair and sustainable energy transition" included a focus on the upstream oil and gas sector.
"[We will] continue with the exploration and production of liquid fuels and gas, promoting self-sufficiency of the energy matrix," the ministry said.
But it added the plan would gradually eliminate subsidies on fuel consumption while promoting carbon neutral energy initiatives.
The government has repeatedly stated that it does not plan to offer new drilling licenses, calling on companies to instead focus on exploration and production opportunities in existing contracts.
Gustavo Petro is six months into a presidency that promised new measures to accelerate Colombia's energy transition. Can the country’s first progressive government in recent history pull this off?
We reviewed existing contracts and it was determined that they would guarantee the national gas supply until beyond the year 2037 and there may even be surplus resources.”
The government’s plan is to “strengthen existing contracts and unlock the suspended ones”, while beginning a “progressive and gradual” energy transition to more renewables and the democratisation of power generation.
Colombia's Hocol has made a new natural gas discovery at its onshore VIM-8 block in the country's north, the company said on Thursday.
This find "allows us to continue advancing towards the energy transition while strengthening our growing position as a natural gas producer in northern Colombia," Guzmán added.
According to Colombia's natural gas supply plan, bidirectional projects currently under development will increase transport capacity by 100Mf3/d from Colombia's interior to the Caribbean coast and 170Mf3/d in the opposite direction.
The companies said the new pipeline would begin operating in the second half of March.
Colombia's Promigas and TGI will reinforce gas supply to the country's north later this month by inaugurating a pipeline interconnection project, the companies said on Thursday.
The initiative links existing transport systems on the Caribbean coast and central Colombia via the recently completed Barrancabermeja-Ballena bidirectional pipeline.
The new infrastructure will initially transport 7Mf3/d (million cubic feet a day) of gas from the Cusiana field in Casanare department to Ballena on La Guajira’s coast.
Gas will then be transported to the Cartagena refinery, where it will be used as a raw material for the production of fuels and petrochemicals.
“This will [deliver] greater reliability to the gas system in Colombia, contributing to the dynamism and integration of the natural gas market by providing security and diversification," Promigas CEO Juan Manuel Rojas said in a joint statement.
TGI chief executive Mónica Contreras added: “The celebration of this milestone represents the commitment of TGI and Promigas to ensure the best use of this clean energy over others with higher emissions and more pollutants.
“It's great news for the sector aimed at having a national natural gas market, promoting the decarbonization of industries, thermal agents and other segments of demand,” she added.
Energy - European gas prices surge
The oil market has continued to move higher in early morning trading today, following a strong close at the end of last week. ICE Brent settled almost 1.5% higher on Friday. The strength in the market comes despite the continued weakness we have seen in equities given concerns over SVB and the broader banking sector. Instead, the market seems focused on a somewhat positive demand picture for oil, while more recently, expectations for Fed tightening have also fallen.
The more positive demand picture is being driven by reports of some strong buying from China and this also ties in with the move that we have seen in the Brent-Dubai spread, which continues to narrow. This makes sense given the demand recovery that is expected not only from China but broader Asia following a relaxation in China’s Covid policy late last year.
Ecopetrol And The Transition
Colombia’s Ecopetrol SA meanwhile is trying to employ more natural gas in its portfolio. Executives have called natural gas “the hydrocarbon of the energy transition.”
Natural gas and its derivatives were 24% of total company output in 2022, executives said. Ecopetrol has set a goal of getting this number to 35% by 2030 as part of their energy transition strategy.
Latin American Nations, Long Focused on Oil, Look to Monetize Natural Gas Resources
Expect more natural gas output from Latin American nations, according to recent earnings calls and presentations from regional government officials and executives.
On March 9, the CEO of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, met the Minister of Mines and Energy of Colombia, Irene Vélez Torres, during CERAWeek programming in Houston, Texas (USA).
Jean Paul Prates commented on the challenges that bring Brazil and Colombia together as countries rich in renewable resources and the responsibility to preserve the Amazon Forest, the largest tropical forest in the world, which occupies the territory of both countries.
The CEO of Petrobras highlighted Petrobras’ environmental projects for the protection of the forest and reinforced the need to combine efforts by the energy industry and governments in favor of environmental preservation. He cited the Petrobras operation in Urucu, in the Amazon, as a case of success in developing activities in the oil and gas industry and preserving the environment.
Ecopetrol also is taking part in oil and gas ventures overseas, including in the United States and Brazil. A technical team is evaluating the company's possible participation in a bidding round in Guyana that will receive bids through April, Bayon said.
Ecopetrol's future production in those countries also is expected to contribute to Colombia's availability of crude and gas while complementing its own reserves, which currently only cover some eight years of demand.
"I think (Guyana) is super interesting from the geological point of view... Everybody wants to go to Guyana nowadays," he said, without elaborating on possible bids.
According to Bayon, a more pressing issue to tackle by Colombia and Venezuela is the need for power interconnection aiming for a wider regional network.
The executive also said the gas reserves to develop could help the company compensate for the lack of shale developments if the Congress progresses in a proposed fracking ban.
But Bayon and other Colombian oil executives believe at least three offshore gas prospects could help increase the Andean country's proven reserves by over 70% in coming years.
HOUSTON, March 10 (Reuters) - Colombia can go without Venezuelan natural gas because of promising offshore developments of its own, Felipe Bayon, chief executive of state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol (ECO.CN), told Reuters.
Companies have proposed reactivating a dormant gas pipeline that connects Venezuela's Western region with Colombia using a concession granted by Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, which financed and built the 16-year-old line.
Slept great last night even with the time change, BBall! Great things coming here iMO. Good luck longs!
Matthew Lipton, co-head of infrastructure investment research at private equity outfit Partners Group, said his firm takes the view that, “until there's a technological step-change, [gas] is a necessary complement in the energy transition.”
The second impact, according to Wassenaar, has been to drive wider interest in funding the decarbonization of oil and gas operations.
As more financiers adopt the view that oil and gas will be a significant part of the energy mix for years to come, many are asking “how do we make those processes a lot more environmentally friendly?” she said.
The third impact has been wider financing available for industrial decarbonization.
“I hear a lot of people saying, ‘hey, I want to finance the ‘gray to green’ [transition] … I want to figure out how I can help these businesses who are here, get here, rather than totally staying away from them and just saying, ‘hey, we just put a lot of money in solar and wind,” Wassenaar explained.
You're hearing a lot more around LNG as a transition fuel,” she said. Fellow panelists agreed.
Olivia Wassenaar, head of sustainable investing and natural resources for private equity giant Apollo, separately outlined three key ways this shift is influencing capital flows. First is a reduced stigma surrounding natural gas.
“You're hearing a lot more around LNG as a transition fuel,” she said. Fellow panelists agreed.
“I think with what happened in Europe, clearly a number of banks have moved to a place where they’re going to go back and finance gas,” Ecopetrol’s Caballero noted. “It goes way beyond security of supply. It’s a conversation about inflation,” he added.
The energy crisis is facilitating a more nuanced approach to “green” finance and broader energy lending, as the staying power of oil and gas makes the funding of natural gas and the industry’s decarbonization more acceptable, private capital lenders and industry leaders say.
Could not agree more! Big risk, big reward.
Our time has to be coming soon!
There is also surging demand for natural gas from Colombian households and industry where it has become a key low-cost fuel used for a variety of purposes from heating and cooking to manufacturing applications. Gas-fired electricity generation is also becoming progressively more important in Colombia. A sharp decline in water levels due to an extended drought and the El Niño weather phenomena during 2015 and 2016 caused electricity output from Colombia’s hydroelectric plants to decline sharply. That placed considerable pressure on a national electric grid that was already plagued by inadequate infrastructure, faults and frequent outages. To ensure that adequate electricity is produced, Bogota implemented a strategy aimed at building gas-fired plants to provide additional electricity production during times hydroelectric output low. That placed greater pressure on already constrained natural gas supplies.
Natural Gas Shortages In Colombia: Is An Energy Crisis Imminent?
Colombia's leftist president, Gustavo Petro, plans to end contracting for hydrocarbon exploration.
The plan has raised concerns about risks to the country's petroleum-dependent economy and energy security.
Natural gas shortages could trigger an energy crisis if Colombia proceeds with the plan to cease issuing new oil exploration contracts.
Join Our Community
The strife-torn Latin American nation of Colombia is facing considerable uncertainty after the first leftist president in the country’s modern history Gustavo Petro embarked upon a plan to end contracting for hydrocarbon exploration. Industry tax hikes have already ratcheted-up the level of fear and there are significant concerns Petro’s plan will not only shock Colombia’s petroleum-dependent economy but endanger the Andean country’s energy security and even spark a crisis. It is an ever-growing shortage of natural gas which will be the most likely trigger of an energy crisis, with declining domestic supply and rising demand already having forced Colombia to significantly increase liquified petroleum gas imports. The risks of such a crisis emerging are very real if Petro proceeds with his plan to cease issuing new oil exploration contracts.
For roughly a decade, Colombia’s national government in the capital Bogota has been grappling with growing natural gas supply constraints at a time when demand for the fuel is rising rapidly. The dwindling natural gas supply can be primarily blamed on inadequate proven reserves, a lack of exploration and aging mature gas fields with rising decline rates. By the end of 2021, according to Colombia’s energy ministry, the country had only 3.1 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, which at the current rate of production of around 1.1 million cubic feet daily, is only sufficient for another eight years. This points to current reserves being incapable of meeting domestic demand for natural gas in the near future. It is for this reason that Bogota started bulk imports of liquified petroleum gas in late-2017.
We are incorporating lessons learned and know-how to develop two megaprojects that will hopefully have a final investment decision approved by the end of the year," Yeimy Báez, Ecopetrol's head of low emission strategies, told analysts during a quarterly earnings call.
Ecopetrol produced around 130,000t/y in 2022, of which 90% was gray – created from natural gas or methane without carbon capture – and 10% blue, produced from gas with carbon capture and storage.
Colombian state-run oil company Ecopetrol aims to begin industrial-scale green hydrogen production as soon as 2025 as it ratchets up energy transition plans, executives said on Wednesday.
The company is using knowledge garnered from a pilot facility at its Cartagena refinery to develop two projects that will produce up to 9000t/y and boast electrolysis capacity of 60MW
Thanks for the fair perspective here.. my money is on the company will give us an update at some point. hope you’re doing well R/C!