BP to invest over $300
Million In Colombia
CARTAGENA, Colombia (Reuters) - Oil company
B.P. will invest more than $300 million in
Colombia in 2010 and 2011 as it expands its
gas and oil production in the country, the
local company president said on Friday.
BP Exploration Company Colombia President
Alberto Galvis, said expansion plans have
not changed despite a massive oil leak in
the U.S Gulf of Mexico.
Galvis said BP's investment in Colombia
would be around $150 million in 2010 and
above that next year.
"We're going to forge ahead with this
investment," he told reporters at an
international oil and mining conference in
Cartagena.
Colombia, Latin America's No. 4 oil
producer, has seen a "mini-boom" in energy
investment as companies have stepped up
exploration after improvements in security
under President Alvaro Uribe.
Uribe remains popular for making many areas
of the country safer with his U.S.-backed
crackdown on leftist rebels. The
conservative leader steps down this year
after two terms, with elections set for May
30.
Colombia has increased its oil production to
nearly 800,000 barrels per day from 500,000
bpd in the last three years.
The government has also certified about 3.1
billion barrels in oil reserves, including
proven, probable and possible reserves,
double the country's average over recent
years.
The surge has come from heavy investment and
exploration from companies such as local
Ecopetrol (ECO.CN) and foreign firms like
Canada's Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.TO).
Colombia's output hit an all-time high
820,000 bpd in the 1990s on high production
in the Cusiana and Cupiaga oil wells
operated by BP.
Galvis said BP hopes a gas plant in
Cusiana-Cupiaga, which has been expanded to
270 million cubic feet, will be operational
by September. |
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