By : Franyi Sarmiento, Ph.D., Inspenet, May 19, 2022
Ecopetrol and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) revealed this week that they will jointly explore four offshore blocks in the Colombian Caribbean.
According to a press release, the local oil company and Anadarko Colombia Company, a subsidiary of Oxy, signed this agreement for blocks COL 1, COL 2, COL 6 and COL 7, located in deep waters in the northeast of the Colombian Caribbean.
With this, they seek to undertake the search for hydrocarbons in an area with attractive potential.
According to the agreement, Ecopetrol will acquire 40% of the exploration and production rights in the blocks, while the remaining 60% will remain under the control of Anadarko, which, in turn, will maintain the status of operator.
The deal is subject to approval by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), the companies said.
The blocks are located off the coast of the departments of Atlántico, Magdalena, and La Guajira, at an average distance of more than 150 km from the coastline of these jurisdictions.
Geological evaluations of the blocks, carried out based on state-of-the-art seismic information acquired by Anadarko, indicate the possibility of significant accumulations of hydrocarbons in this sector of the Colombia Basin.
The companies plan to explore the areas, through the acquisition of samples from the seabed and the drilling of an exploratory well, subject to regulatory authorizations and the completion of technical studies.
This well represents an important technological challenge with which the companies are committed, since it would be done in deep water.
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