Colombia offers 97 blocks
Friday, April 4 2014 - 01:37 AM WIB
Colombia?s oil and gas authority National Hydrocarbons Agency (Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos, ANH) offered a total of 97 blocks in the South American country to investors in Southeast Asia in a one-day event called the 4th Colombian Roadshow held in Jakarta on Thursday.
President of ANH Javier Betancourt said Jakarta is selected to be the venue of the event because Indonesia is the biggest economy in Southeast Asia and the third fastest growing economy in Asia with a GDP growth of above 6 percent in the last five years.
He said Indonesia is the epicenter of or the gate into Southeast Asia, thanks to its strategic position between Asia and Oceania. Like Colombia, Indonesia is a country with a growing and prosperous middle class, with a large number of young people.
The ANH is offering a total of 97 oil and gas blocks in Columbia for Exploration and Production Contracts (E&P) and Technical Evaluation Agreement (TEA), consisting of 57 onshore conventional blocks, 13 offshore conventional blocks, 19 unconventional shale blocks, and eight blocks of unconventional coal-associated gas or CBM.
"We have discovered oil reserves of 47 billion barrels in the last ten years and currently produce 1 million barrels of oil per day,? he said.
On the sidelines of the event, Betancourt also shared ANH?s experience in managing Columbia?s oil and gas industry with the Indonesian Petroleum Association (IPA). IPA?s Executive Director Dipnala Tamzil who attended the event said Indonesia should learn from Columbia.
"Back in 2003 the situation of oil and gas industry in Colombia was similar to the one now experienced by Indonesia. They faced problems such as decreasing production, decreasing resources, decreasing exploration, and investment was very hard to come by. In the last ten years, however, they could increase production to 1 million bopd and could attract many investors. We should learn from Columbia," said Dipnala.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon