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Colombia’s Oil Industry Could Stage A Comeback In 2021 By Matthew Smith - Dec 20, 2020, 4:00 PM CST
The last year has been rough for Colombia’s economically vital petroleum industry. Toward the end of 2019 and at the start of 2020 government and industry bodies were expecting a strong 2020 for the country’s hydrocarbon sector. The Andean country’s peak industry body the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP – Spanish initials) initially anticipated a notable 23% year over year increase in investment to just shy of $5 billion. It was anticipated that would lead to an average daily production during 2020 of 890,000 barrels daily. Despite this optimism, exploration and production activity collapsed due to the twin-impact of the country’s COVID-19 lockdown and sharply weaker oil prices. By May 2020 Colombia’s oil production had fallen off a cliff plunging to a multi-year low of 742,000 barrels daily. Natural gas output also declined, dropping to