Colombia eyes 2029 start-up date from offshore natural gas assets in $300 million drilling investment

(Bloomberg) – Ecopetrol SA expects offshore natural gas from Colombia to come online as soon as 2029, two years later than previously anticipated and not in time to curb a looming fuel shortfall.

Colombia is set to face a gap between its domestic supply of natural gas and total demand beginning next year. The fuel gap of around 12% is expected to widen to about 30% in 2026 and will keep increasing until deep-water deposits meet local needs.

In the meantime, the South American nation’s biggest companies are bracing for energy costs to soar with gas imports potentially costing two or three times more than current domestic supply.

Ecopetrol is planning to spend $300 million this year — the most it has invested in offshore drilling in any year — as it pushes to produce more natural gas and get it to consumers in fewer than the 10 to 15 years it normally takes to bring to market, according to Elsa Jaimes, the company’s offshore chief.

Gas from the Tayrona block, which Ecopetrol has in partnership with Brazil’s Petrobras, may be the first to come online because it requires less additional land infrastructure than the block it holds with Shell Plc, Jaimes said in an interview in Bogotá.

Ecopetrol and Petrobras are currently drilling the Uchuva-2 well, which is part of the Tayrona block, and expect to have results of its natural gas potential in November or December.

Ecopetrol Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Roa said earlier this year that gas from offshore wells could be made available as soon as 2027. The timing of adding production depends mostly on approval from local communities and securing an environmental license, which is expected to take about three years, according to Jaimes.

“The timing isn’t just up to us,” Jaimes said. “We need everyone’s help.”