Prodata will deliver 25 million cubic feet of gas a day through Colombian distributor Energy Transitions SAS ESP. However, they still have to carry out repairs to the pipeline, sign additional contracts with Pdvsa and receive final approval from Colombian regulators. It is estimated, according to sources, that the first gas shipments will be made at the end of 2023
As reported Bloomberg, Venezuela would have authorized a private company to export natural gas to Colombia for the first time in history. Is about Prodata Energya company that operates in Caracas, which received authorization to make shipments through an inactive 224-kilometer gas pipeline that runs from the western region of Venezuela to the northeast of Colombia.
According to an agreement that was signed in July, reports Bloomberg, Prodata will deliver 25 million cubic feet of gas per day through Energy Transitions SAS ESP, a Colombian distributor.
The latest related data, which was revealed by the ANH, indicates that the average production of commercialized gas was 1,087.29 million cubic feet per day (mcfd) in August 2022, which represented a decrease of 2.97 % compared to the previous month, when it reached 1,120.61 mcfd. This decrease occurred due to the drop in the average production of the Cupiagua Liria field and due to electrical failures in the Clarinete field.
This agreement seeks to help Venezuela diversify energy exports that are the base of its economy, while reinforcing the supply of natural gas in Colombia, where the production of fuel, which is generated to generate electricity and in the homes, fall
Venezuelan authorities have granted Prodata a 30-year export permit, two of the people consulted by Bloomberg said. They still have to carry out repairs to the pipeline, sign additional contracts with Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and receive final approval from Colombian regulators. It is estimated, according to the sources, that the first gas shipments will be made at the end of 2023.
About the pipeline
Allowing private companies to export natural gas represents a change for Venezuela, which for more than a hundred years has focused on the production and export of crude oil. It has the largest gas reserves in Latin America and are 70 times larger than those of Colombia. In 2021, Venezuela produced 24,000 million cubic meters of gas, which were destined for the domestic market.
This agreement will revive an agreement signed in 2007 between Hugo Chávez and Álvaro Uribe that created the Antonio Ricaurte trans-Caribbean gas pipeline, which sought to export gas to South and Central America. After the opening of this pipeline, Venezuela exported gas to Colombia for eight years, but with the collapse of the economy, energy production declined and the United States imposed sanctions on Venezuela.
The pipeline, which has the capacity to transport 450 million cubic feet a day, has been inactive since 2015. It runs from Riohacha, in Colombia’s La Guajira, to Bajo Grande in Zulia state. Pdvsa paid $335 million for its construction.
In the Colombian oil and gas sector, a decrease in the production of gas fields is expected from 2026.
Last week Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state oil company, pledged to resume a separate agreement for gas shipments “in the future” and said officials have visited Caracas for talks. Other private Colombian energy companies have also visited the country.
With information from Bloomberg
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