Amid Warnings of a natural gas deficit that could be seen in 2025 and that requires actions from the Government, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Andrés Camacho, said that the option of importing from Venezuela was impossible and he ruled it out. He said that There would be no deficit for the next year so no imports would be required. However, documents from Ministry entities show that the importation of liquefied natural gas has been recommended.
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The statement is made within the framework of whatEcopetrol’s announcements of progress in a bidding process to import liquefied natural gas and for which he has already received eight offers.
However, in conversation with Blu Radio, Camacho stated that The options to supply the market are purely internal.. “It has never been in our plans”, Camacho said in response to the question of whether import options have been analyzed. from other countries.
“We have not seen any supply problems, because we are taking measures“, the minister said. “It is not true that we will have shortages next year“Camacho concluded.
(Read also: Upme proposes importing gas through La Guajira to address shortages in the coming years)
It is worth noting that The deficit alerts were generated after the Ministry of Mines and Energy itself published the production declarationn of natural gas, which shows that the demand projected by the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (Upme) and the production that the agents have shows a gap.
This gapIt was estimated at 12% for 2025 by Naturgas and would be expanded to 30% in 2026. This would require rapid action to avoid drastic situations such as shortages or non-essential demand sectors, such as industrial sectors, not having access to energy.
In fact, Ricardo Roa, president of Ecopetrol, said that they are advancing in several alternatives to face this situation.since their analyses also show a deficit for the coming years.
(Recommended reading: Ecopetrol’s plan to supply gas amid shortage warnings for 2025)
Ricardo Roa, president of Ecopetrol.
Actions
“Sometimes the problem is not that we don’t have gas, but that we don’t have a way to transport it or make it commercial.“Camacho told Blu Radio, explaining that the actions that have been taken are related only to the local market.
The Minister He mentioned the Natural Gas Supply Plan of the Upme, pointing out that progress has been made on some recommendations of this document, such as the creation of an inter-institutional committee to find alternatives.
He also highlighted some regulatory measures such as the issuance of a resolution allowing the use of existing transport infrastructure such as pipelines to use them and also transport natural gas.
(Read also: Ecopetrol and Frontera among those aiming to import gas due to possible deficit)
It is about the Resolution 40745 of 2023 that regulates and enables multiphase oil pipelineswith the purpose of taking advantage of the current infrastructure, which would allow the extraction of available gas from basins such as the Piedemonte Llanero, which does not have specific infrastructure enabled to extract the gas produced in this region.
He also mentioned that are working to “advance the use” of natural gas expected to be produced offshore, which is still in the exploration phase.
Another point that Camacho pointed out is that work is being done on the promoting exploration in the fields whose contracts have already been signed in the past so that the resources that are in these contracts.
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However, uA report by independent firm Rystad Energy says the natural gas deficit is too imminent for local resources to cover it, which is why it is necessary to analyze import options.
The Colombian Oil and Gas Association (ACP) pointed out that some actions are required such as Relaxation of commercial conditions for all fields both onshore and offshore to stimulate the launch of new supply under conditions that financially leverage the projects.
(Of interest: This is how gas prices have changed, before the tariff pressure that will come in 2025)
In this regard A draft decree was published for comments which would give these conditions; however, it has not been published in a definitive form..
Import
The same Upme document cited by the ministeror proposes another series of actions that include importing through a regasification infrastructure either in the Pacific or in La Guajiraan alternative that was proposed in the last Plan, presented during this Government.
(In context: Changes in gas imports and sales proposed by the Government in response to deficit alert)
The document proposes for the first time the possibility of creating a new infrastructure for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) located in La GuajiraIt is worth highlighting that the latest documents submitted by Upme included the Pacific regasification plant, which among its positive characteristics was that it could increase reliability in the southwest of the country, which is far from the main production areas and where rates are higher.
“It is proposed to encourage the construction and operation of private LNG regasification initiatives on both the Pacific Coast and the Atlantic Coast, as well as to evaluate the feasibility of locating a new import point in the latter region.“,” the plan states.
Daniela Morales Soler
Portfolio Journalist
