Colombia-based oil and gas company Ecopetrol is planning to invest $500 million toward exploring unconventional deposits over a three-year period.
The investment is part of the $12 to $15 billion apportioned by Ecopetrol to invest during the 2019 to 2021 time frame. It anticipates 2019 output to reach 730,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) and eventually increase from 750,000 to 770,000 boepd in 2021.
Ecopetrol intends to begin with shale pilot programs in Columbia’s shale-rich, Magdalena Valley basin, that will include involvement of neighbouring communities, as well as regulators, authorities, and unions.
The tests are likely to be followed by a commercial expansion phase by 2022, subject to governmental consent.