Turning taps: Occidental Petroleum said it expected to boost production at two of its projects in Colombia
Occidental primes Colombia pumps
Occidental Petroleum expects gross output at two oil operations in Colombia to reach 135,000 barrels per day by 2011, up from current production of 111,000 bpd, a company executive said.
Occidental Colombia president David Stangor said production should rise from 15,000 bpd to around 50,000 bpd in the next three years at the La Cira Infantas field it shares with state oil company Ecopetrol in central Colombia.
Crude production at the Llanos Norte area with Ecopetrol, including Cano Limon field, is currently at 96,000 bpd, but maintaining output at around 95,000 bpd will depend on the success of new exploration projects, he said.
"Cira by 2011 should be up to 50,000 barrels per day," Stangor said during a US embassy visit on Tuesday to the Cano Limon facilities in Arauca province.
"Here in Llanos Norte, it is going to be very dependent on exploration, it is going to be difficult to stay at 95,000. But how far we fall off is going to be dependent on exploration success. If we are wildly successful, we can keep it at 95,000 or so," he told reporters, Reuters said.
Colombia produced 563,000 bpd in crude in March and has targeted output at 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2020. But it needs more new finds to avoid becoming an oil importer beyond 2015. Ecopetrol said this week a newly found field in Huila province is pumping between 1600 bpd and 2400 bpd.