The Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy and the National Hydrocarbons Agency (Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos) of Colombia have issued plans to boost the domestic crude oil reserves by 1 Gbl and to auction 20 possible production areas shortly. The last auction of this kind took place in 2014 and the government delayed the organisation of new bidding rounds because of the low global crude prices environment. The process for the qualification of interested companies will take place between February and April 2019. The results and the signing of contracts are slated for the third quarter of 2019.
A new assignment process (Proceso Permanente de Asignación de Áreas) will be set up in order to make the auction more attractive and competitive. The 20 zones are expected to be located in the Eastern Plains (13), the Magdalena Valley (5) and the Caribbean regions (2). Potential investments in these areas is currently estimated at US$600m. Onshore exploration processes will last 6 years, while they will reach 9 years for offshore projects.
In May 2018, the government reported that nationwide oil reserves grew 7% in 2017 to reach 1.78 Gbl, which is equivalent to 5.7 years of oil output. It attributed this growth to a 67% increase in exploration and production investments in the country following the global recovery in crude oil prices. As for Colombia's natural gas reserves, they rose from 10.3 years of production to 11.7 years in 2017.