Shell Exits Colombian Offshore Gas Projects while Industry Retreats and Production Falls

Shell is officially exiting gas exploration activities in Colombia, bringing an end to its involvement in several key offshore projects in the southern Caribbean. The company has begun the process of selling its 50% stake in the Fuerte Sur, Purple Angel, and COL-5 blocks. Shell’s decision marks another major withdrawal by an international oil company from Colombia’s upstream energy sector.

The discoveries made in the region in 2017 represented, at the time, some of the country’s most promising natural gas discoveries. Former president Juan Manuel Santos and Juan Carlos Echeverry, president of Ecopetrol (Colombian state-controlled petroleum company and Shell’s partner in this venture), made the announcement and labeled them the most significant gas finds in nearly three decades, with early estimates pointing to more than 3 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, exceeding the country’s proven reserves at the time.

However, enthusiasm faded due to logistical and economic hurdles. Transporting the gas from deep water wells to shore requires costly infrastructure, including a long-distance undersea pipeline and onshore processing facilities. Industry sources referred by the Latin-American news website Infobae pointed out that the scale of investment needed does not justify the currently confirmed volume of gas. Bureaucratic procedures and insecurity were other reasons that could have led to the decision.

Ecopetrol has confirmed in a press release in response to Shell’s decision that despite this setback, they are working on a plan to ensure the continuity of these projects without the British company’s investment. The company also confirmed it is actively seeking options to connect future production and distribution of gas to Colombia’s National Transportation System.

Adding to the realignment, Shell is also considering selling other Colombian assets, including its stake in the offshore block COL-3, co-owned with Noble Energy (now part of Chevron). While Shell will retain its fuel distribution and lubricant businesses in Colombia, the move marks a broader retreat from exploration and production operations in the country.

Shell’s departure is not an isolated case. Over the past five years, other major oil and gas companies—Chevron, Repsol, ConocoPhillips, Cepsa, and ExxonMobil—have either scaled back or exited their exploration or production operations with oil or gas in Colombia. Many of these exits were linked to regulatory uncertainty, challenges in project viability, and shifting corporate priorities toward lower-risk or more profitable regions.

Reactions have been swift. According to La República, over the last decade Colombia had an almost 50% decrease in gas production: while there were 329 contracts in 2015 that yielded a production of 5,048 million cubic feet per day, between January and February, by the same period in 2025, the number of contracts had dropped to 277, with a production of 2,608.1 million cubic feet per day; as per data from the National Hydrocarbons Agency.

“That a company as important as Shell is withdrawing from Colombia’s offshore gas activities; that foreign investment in hydrocarbons has fallen 30% in the last year; that the development of the Sirius project (the most promising ever found offshore) is subject to the absurd requirement of 116 prior consultations before its gas molecules can reach land; that domestic gas production has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years; that 130 exploratory wells were drilled in 2012, while only 27 will be drilled in 2024…. None of this is a coincidence; it is the result of a deliberate policy by the Petro administration to end the country’s gas self-sufficiency, which we Colombians have already begun to pay for with expensive imports,” Juan Camilo Restrepo, Former Deputy Finance Minister, stated on X.

However, optimism still remains for the Sirius project—an initiative led by Petrobras and Ecopetrol in the same region. Discovered in 2024, Sirius is touted as the most promising gas find in Colombia’s deepwater history, with production expected to begin in 2029. Industry analysts now view Sirius as the country’s best bet for restoring long-term energy self-sufficiency, even if its development has not been without its hurdles.