Colombia crude production down sharply in February

OREANDA-NEWS. March 17, 2016. Colombian crude production fell sharply in February amid pipeline attacks and well shut-ins driven by the oil price collapse.

Crude output sank by 7pc in February to 955,000 b/d compared with the same month of 2015. The February level was off by 3.1pc from a revised 986,000 b/d in January, Colombia's energy ministry said today.

Rebel attacks last month against state-controlled Ecopetrol's two main oil pipelines restricted transport to export outlets on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

The government's finance ministry has revised down Colombia's 2016 crude production target to 944,000 b/d, citing low oil prices as the main driver. Colombia's crude flows averaged 1.005mn b/d in 2015.

The trend seems unlikely to turn around in the near term because of a slowdown in upstream investment and a dearth of significant new discoveries.

Colombian oil chamber ACP blames a decline in exploration investment on lower oil prices coupled with higher taxes on corporate profits.

Colombia's government has sought to ease some upstream contract terms and open up free trade zones for offshore oil and gas development.

Natural gas production in February averaged 1.065bn ft3/d (29.82mn m3/d), down 0.8pc from February 2015 but up 1.3pc from the previous month.

Colombia's energy ministry attributed the month-to-month production increase on the restart of operations at Canadian independent Canacol Energy's Nelson, Palmer and Arianna fields following maintenance, as well as new production from the Cotorra and Manamo fields.