Despite Headwinds, Colombian Petroleum Exports Up 53% In 2022

Less than a month after closing the Oil and Gas Summit in Bogotá, the Colombian Chamber of Oil, Gas and Energy Goods and Services – Campetrol, representing 150 petroleum sector companies, presented its Oil Balance report for the third quarter of 2022, which indicates that despite an anti-petroleum president taking office in Colombia, the value of exports of oil and derivatives from the Andean nation registered an increase of 53% per year as of October 2022.

“Today we continue to report good news for the country. The hydrocarbon sector continues to reactivate and promote the development of Colombians. As of October 2022, export revenues of more than $16 billion USD were generated, compared to $10.6 billion in 2021, meaning an annual increase of 53%, equivalent to more than three tax reforms in 2022,” said Nelson Castañeda, Executive President of Campetrol.

At the end of November 2022, Colombia has an accumulated 59 exploratory wells drilled, thus exceeding the 25 total wells in 2021 (an increase of 136%).

According to the report, which monitors the behavior of the sector’s major actors at an industrial and macroeconomic level, 17 exploratory wells were drilled in the third quarter of this year, an increase of 143% compared to the seven registered in the same period. from the previous year.

As of September 2022, 14.1 million barrels of crude oil have been exported. This variation was mainly due to decreases in the price of oil, from the average of $100.5 USD/Bbl in August to $89.8 USD/Bbl in September, mainly due to downward pressures caused by expectations of a global economic recession in 2023.

“Definitely, the tax policies established in the reform presented by the new government could affect the performance of the companies in the segment, the sector and the country,” added Castañeda.

The report highlights that the growth rate of the Colombian economy in the third quarter of the year was 7.0% annualized (against 13.6% in the same quarter of 2021). For its part, the sector of crude oil extraction, natural gas and support activities registered economic growth of 1.3% in the third quarter (against -4.6% in the same period of 2021).

In November, 155 drilling & workover rigs were registered, exceeding the pre-pandemic activity of 136 rigs in January 2020.

In the third quarter, the preliminary average oil production in Colombia has maintained the growth trend, reaching 750.3 KBOPD (barrels of oil per day), an increase of 1.2% (9.1 KBOPD) compared to the third quarter. quarter of 2021.

“We hope that this behavior will be boosted by the investment plan proposed by Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) for 2023, which includes investments of between $25.3 and $29.8 trillion COP, amounts that will be possible thanks to financing with own resources and the collection of the account receivable from the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (FEPC), with whose contribution the national government will allow the sector to continue generating jobs and local and regional productive chains,” said Andrés Sánchez, Campetrol’s director of economic and administrative affairs.

Campetrol’s Oil Balance is a quarterly report, which exposes the behavior of the main figures of the oil, gas and energy sector in Colombia, at an industrial and macroeconomic level. Additionally, it outlines the perspectives of the sector from Campetrol’s vision based on forecasts and future projections of various indicators. The figures in this report are published with the latest official data available