Colombia: AHN boss Armando Zamora
Colombia sees production rise
Colombia continues to drill for more oil and by next year production could return to its high-water mark reached in the 1990s above 800,000 barrels per day, Colombian ANH boss Armando Zamora said.
"We could be back there in a year or two," said Zamora in a speech at the Latin American Petroleum Show in western Venezuela.
During his speech, Zamora also laid out further plans for the country's new drilling round, called Colombia Open Round 2010, in which the country will offer oil companies exploration and production rights that could lead to even higher production, a Dow Jones Report said.
Regarding the oil production expectations, Zamora said once output reaches about 800,000 bpd "a certain amount of bottlenecking would occur due to infrastructure and transportation issues, but we are already working on that."
Average crude production this year is expected to approach 700,000 bpd, up from 588,000 per day last year.
The rise in production comes amid recent oil discoveries in Colombia as well as efforts by companies to boost production at existing fields.
State-owned Ecopetrol and Canada-based Pacific Rubiales Energy aim to double production at the Rubiales field to 100,000 bpd at the end of this year and 160,000 bpd by the end of next year.
President Alvaro Uribe said last month he is confident the Andean nation's production will eventually rise to 1.6 million bpd.
As for the drilling round, Zamora said it will give companies the opportunity to explore and produce oil and gas in nearly 170 blocks, including sites off Colombia's San Andres Island, near Jamaica.
He said the blocks would be split up into three areas, including mature sites where risk is lower and thus could attract smaller energy companies.
The other areas are considered riskier, exploratory sites, such as those in and around the province of Choco on Colombia's Pacific coast.
A "pre-launch" of the drilling round is set for tomorrow, he said, while interested companies will be able to pick up preliminary information packets next month.
Further details will be announced in December, Zamora said, when Colombia hosts an oil show.
Throughout next year Colombia will hit the road to promote the oil round in cities around the world.