Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids Country Notes

Initially, oil discoveries were made principally in the valley of the Magdalena. Subsequently, other fields were discovered in the north of the country (from the early 1930s), and in 1959 oil was found in the Putamayo area in southern Colombia, near the border with Ecuador. More recently, major discoveries have included the Caño Limón field near the Venezuelan frontier and the Cusiana and Cupiagua fields in the Llanos Basin to the east of the Andes. However, the remaining proved reserves have been shrinking since 1992, and are now at a very low level in relation to production (R/P ratio of only 7.3), on the basis of data published by the Unidad de Planeación Minero Energético (UPME) of the Ministerio de Minas y Energía, in its Boletín Estadístico 1999-2005. UPME remarks that oil reserves decreased at an average rate of 7.4% per annum between 1998 and 2005, owing largely to declines in the Caño Limón and Cusiana fields. However, it has high hopes of finding further reserves, with the promotion of new areas on the part of the state company Ecopetrol and the Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos.

Colombia's oil production grew strongly between 1994 and 1999, increasing by about 80% over the period: 2000, however, displayed a sharp contraction, and output has continued to fall year by year.