Colombia will depend more on imported gas in 2026, with the risk of a 26% deficit and possible increases in rates, Naturgas warns.
Next year Colombia will increase its dependence on imported gaswhich will mean an increase in prices for natural gas for vehicles and that used in the industrial sector, according to the projections of the association of natural gas companies, Naturgas.
The association presented its balance of the service in 2024 and 2025, and made some accounts about 2026. Of the total gas that Colombia consumed this year, 20% was imported: 12% to generate energy and another 8% for homes, businesses and vehicles.
Regarding the gas operation, the data is key, because, although the country has imported gas for nine years, since December 2024 it has been doing so to serve that 8%. In other words, local gas production is so insufficient that imports are no longer dedicated only to thermal plants.
According to the report ‘Natural gas in figures’, which the union presented this Wednesday, more than 384 thousand new users were connected to the service, which expanded coverage while the context became complex, with a progressive drop in national production and delays in strategic projects.
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The deficit will increase if imports are not facilitated
In 2026, firm natural gas—gas from national production available for national demand—will have a 26% deficit. “We are operating at the limit, we have no room for maneuver to react to contingencies,” said Luz Stella Murgas, president of Naturgas.
Murgas was referring to unscheduled maintenance or infrastructure failures. So far, the lawyer added, the service has not experienced any interruption nor has it required more gas to generate energy, but the authorities should target projects that facilitate importation.
On the one hand, the expansion of the SPEC regasification plant in Cartagena – which is expected to be completed in 2027, after five years – would increase its capacity to import more liquefied gas. On the other hand, the Pacific Regasification Plant, in Buenaventura, should start in 2026, according to Ecopetrol.
The firm national gas deficit in which Colombia has been in since December 2024 to meet non-thermal demand, and which will increase year by year until the end of the decade, “would reach, if we do not add a molecule of national gas, beyond the 50%“said Murgas.
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Where are gas bill increases expected in 2026?
The import of gas, then, would imply an increase in prices. Naturgas provided a piece of tranquility for the residential sector, which would only have increases “around the” consumer price index, except in Antioquia and the Coffee Region, where it would be between 20% and 25%.
In vehicular gas, Naturgas does not predict increases at service stations in Antioquia and Los Llanos, except in Yopal. The Coffee Axis could register growth of up to 10% in costs, and Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Santander and Valle del Cauca, among 30% and 38%.
Regarding the industrial area there is still no precise balance. However, for Murgas it is worrying that the 42% of demand is covered with contracts subject to interruptions due to short terms of contracts and fields that are only in the testing phase, not in production.
For Naturgas and its president, the country’s priority must be national production. “We need the production that Canacol has today, which is equivalent to 15% of the national total,” said Vallenata, referring to the largest natural gas exploration company in Colombia, currently undergoing restructuring.
Source: Integrated Information System
