OREANDA-NEWS. May 25, 2015. Minister of State(I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan led an Indian delegation to Colombia. During the official visit he held bilateral talks with his counterpart Minister of Energy and Mines of Colombia Mr Tomas Gonzalez Estrada and met CEO of National Oil Company ECOPETROL. Shri Pradhan also visited Moriche oil field where ONGC Videsh Ltd( OVL) along with SINOPEC of China and ECOPETROL has formed a consortium named Mansarover Energy which is producing about 2 MMT oil per year.

During the meetings, Shri Pradhan thanks Government of Colombia for its support for OVL since 2006 in its operations in Colombia. He apprised them about the priority that India attaches to its energy partnership with Colombia. He added that the present government under Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi wants to diversify its import sources of energy and India would like to source more crude from Latin America in general and Colombia in particular. It may be noted that India imported 6.3 MMT crude from Colombia in 2013-14.

Shri Pradhan highlighted the scope of enhancing cooperation between Colombia and Indian public and private sector companies in the areas of ; exploration and production activities in Colombia including in deep water and unconventional resources; refining sector; and EPC and infrastructure related to oil and gas. He added that Indian companies from public and private sector provide world-class technological solutions and service in most cost effective manner.He said that India wants a long- term partnership with Colombia in oil and gas sector.

The Colombian Energy and Mines Minister and CEO, ECOPETROL invited indian investment in all streams of hydrocarbon sector and expressed willingness to collaborate with India. The two Ministers agreed to reactivate a Joint Working Group(JWG) on Hydrocarbon which was earlier agreed in 2008 but had never met. The JWG was mandated to identify concrete projects where the two sides can work together.

Shri Pradhan also addressed the business association of Colombia. During the visit, he was accompanied by Indian Ambassador to Colombia Shri Prabhat Kumar, Joint Secretary(IC&GP), Chairman IOC and MD ONGC Videsh Ltd.