The energy industry will be the backbone of a fair, sustainable, and inclusive reactivation.

The Oil and Gas Guild Committee (CGP) inaugurated the III Summit on Oil and Gas, “Visions of a new reality”, a virtual event that brings together the main actors in the industry in Colombia. During the opening ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Miguel Lotero, stated that the global economic recovery is being supported by the energy sector and Colombia is no exception.

 

• The Oil and Gas Guild Committee (CGP) launched the third edition of the Oil and Gas Summit, Visions of a New Reality, a virtual event taking place from November 18-20.
• During the opening ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Miguel Lotero, stated that the energy sector is the backbone of reactivation and highlighted the main policies and measures being promoted by that portfolio.
• On behalf of the Oil and Gas Guild Committee, the Executive President of Campetrol, Germán Espinosa, stated that to achieve sustainable reactivation, the hydrocarbons sector must transform.

 

In this regard, the Deputy Minister emphasized the leading role the sector plays in the national economic landscape and highlighted three fundamental objectives for achieving sustainable recovery: job creation, economic growth, and energy sustainability and resilience. “We are committed to Colombia and its economic reactivation. Today we have 33 prioritized projects, representing nearly $36 billion pesos in investment, and around 54,000 jobs,” he stated.

Within the strategic axes in hydrocarbons, Lotero highlighted the results of the PPAA and the issuance of the projects offshore, whose potential represents a great opportunity for long-term investment and where he indicated that the projects represent 1.9 billion dollars in investment and will generate nearly 300 direct jobs. Likewise, the Deputy Minister referred to the advances in unconventional reservoirs (YNC), where he highlighted that the process of reviewing the technical resolution is currently underway and all social and environmental regulations are already defined.

Regarding energy transformation, one of the main flags of President Iván Duque's government, Lotero pointed out that the public policy scheme of the Ministry of Mines and Energy is a portfolio where oil fields, renewable energy parks, and biofuel-generating crops coexist today. “We need all these resources for our energy matrix, and all are complementary and important for the sustainable reactivation of the country,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

For his part, Germán Espinosa, Executive President of Campetrol and representative of the Oil and Gas Guild Committee, supported the management of the National Government and focused his speech on the need for a paradigm shift in the hydrocarbons sector as a condition to ensure sustainable reactivation. Espinosa indicated that “the pandemic has pointed out new ways of doing things, has drawn new horizons for us, and to be able to emerge from the crisis we must know how to transform ourselves, focusing on how to be more competitive as companies, as a sector, and as a country.”.

The representative of the CGP highlighted the set of possibilities of the EOR, continental exploration, the utilization of YNC, and the offshore, which generate potentials that the industry must take advantage of in the short term to boost reactivation and maintain national energy self-sufficiency. Furthermore, he emphasized that Colombia is now an international benchmark in its vision and commitment to the energy transition.

Finally, Espinosa indicated that, looking to the future, towards a more inclusive and competitive industry, the sector must move towards a new model of relationship with the territory where solidarity and commitment are prioritized. “We must reinvent ourselves, build new contractual relationships and alliances with free competition in local and regional contracts. Only then will we make Colombia a more attractive destination for investment and guarantee energy self-sufficiency to the citizens,” he pointed out.

In the discussion panel that opened the day of discussion, Daniel Yergin, vice president of IHS Markit, in dialogue with the president of the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP), referred to the energy revolutions and the geopolitics that are shaping a new world order.

Yergin explained that there are very different views of the energy transition from developed countries and developing countries that need to increase the demand for fossil fuels to combat “energy poverty.” In this sense, he indicated that the word “realistic” should be added to the concept of energy transition because in terms of time, costs, requirements, value chain, and supplies, there are many aspects that must be taken into account.

The expert also indicated that gas is and will continue to be fundamental for base generation and the complement of unconventional renewable energies; that is, it is much more than a transition fuel, it is a long-term energy source.

Finally, regarding Colombia, he indicated that the country must develop its energy sources, including the production of fossil fuels responsibly and as an important source of income. Furthermore, he recommended that the discussion around fracking not be emotional but rather analyze how this technology has been successfully developed in several countries.