Policy shifts cloud Colombia's future
Changes in petroleum policy are clouding the outlook for foreign oil investments in Colombia. The country this year returns to the ranks of crude exporting nations with start-up of production from giant Cano Limon oil field, whose discovery is credited in part to a petroleum policy framework viewed earlier by industry officials as a model for other countries. But a troubling series of tax and regulatory changes proposed during a heated election season bedevils foreign operators trying to gauge the health of their investments in what has been the hottest Latin American play of the 1980s. Added to exploration disappointments in the Llanos basin, which spawned Cano Limon, continued guerrila activity, and the winter price plunge, the policy changes worry oil companies. Several officials speculate that some companies, especially small independents, will pull out of Colombia within 1 year. Operators want clarification of government decrees governing field production limits, pipeline ownership, oil export levels, and oil prices. Operators also call for liberalization of the widely admired association contract model, now seen as too stringent in view of the sharp oil price drop since November. Meanwhile, an Arthur D. Little Inc. study commissioned by Occidental de Colombia Inc. and Cia. Shell de Colombia Inc. concludes that Colombia would be best served economically by pushing for increased oil production and crude exports now instead of lower production and export levels championed in some Colombian political circles.
- Research Organization:
- Arthur D. Little Inc.
- OSTI ID:
- 5621949
- Journal Information:
- Oil Gas J.; (United States), Vol. 84:13
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
COLOMBIA
ENERGY POLICY
OIL FIELDS
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
REGULATIONS
TAX LAWS
EXPORTS
INVESTMENT
POLITICAL ASPECTS
PRICES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INDUSTRY
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LATIN AMERICA
LAWS
MINERAL RESOURCES
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
SOUTH AMERICA
021000* - Petroleum- Legislation & Regulations
020700 - Petroleum- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
294002 - Energy Planning & Policy- Petroleum
293000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation