Colombia Produced 865,987 Barrels of Oil per Day in May

Colombia produced an average of 865,987 barrels of oil per day in May, an uptick of 1.6% over May 2017 according to government figures.

This level also represents a 0.1% increase from April, and the slight increase marks the third straight month of rising production, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

After five months, the annual average for the country now stands at 854,190 barrels of oil per day. This is almost exactly in line with the 2017 average of 854,121 barrels of oil per day yet still below the 885,000-barrel daily average of 2016.

The annual figure, however, still exceeds the Ministry of Mines’ previously released “medium-term” estimate of 840,000 barrels of oil per day.

The vast majority of the oil in Colombia is produced by state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol. The Bogotá-based company has set a goal of 725,000 barrels of petroleum-equivalent per day for 2018 and expects to drill at least 620 development wells and 12 exploration wells during the year to help replace falling reserves.

Frontera Energy, formerly known as Pacific Rubiales, produced an average of 52,195 barrels of oil per day in Colombia the first quarter of 2018. This was a slight decrease from the 56,593 it produced in the country compared to the first quarter of 2017.