Ecopetrol has just announced organic investments of up to 29.8 trillion pesos for 2023, with the firm objective of accelerating and ensuring its energy transition. The resources that were endorsed by the board of directors of the Colombian oil company include investments between 5.9 billion and 6.8 billion pesos in renewable self-generation, hydrogen, transmission and roads, and energy efficiency; between 3.6 and 4.1 trillion for gas self-sufficiency and between 15.8 and 18.9 trillion to ensure energy security, financial sustainability and favor the country’s trade balance.
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As reported by the oil company’s directives, renewable self-generation resources, hydrogen, energy efficiency, carbon capture and ISA (transmission and roads), represent about 23 percent of this investment plan. Nearly 4.1 trillion pesos in the next 3 years (around 315,000 million), will make it possible to incorporate 900 MW of renewable energies, produce more than 50,000 tons of low-carbon hydrogen, reduce about 400,000 tons of CO2e emissions and move forward in carbon storage and capture studies.
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He also indicated that gas investments oscillate between 3.6 and 4.1 trillion, with a production of between 174,000 and 177,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (representing about 800 million cubic feet of natural gas, plus white goods).
These resources are aimed at maintaining the current supply, seeking to increase it with gas exploratory projects, of which 12 wells are planned for 2023, mainly in the Piedmont, Caribbean Offshore and Northern Colombia, consolidating social gas and energy communities such as the fuel of transition.
As to ISA The company indicated that this subsidiary will invest an approximate amount of 6.3 trillion pesos (19.8 trillion for the next 3 years), of which about 5.4 trillion will be to build 9,657 kilometers of energy transportation by 2025 ( 6,227 kilometers of them for the transport of non-conventional renewable energies), consolidating ISA as the Latin American leader in energy transmission.
The vast majority of the investments announced this Friday by the Ecopetrol directives are focused on Colombia, at least 66 percent of these, with which it is expected to “continue generating added value to the domestic chain and increase the benefit for the interest groups in the national territory,” he said in a statement.
Those from abroad (34 percent), for their part, abroad, seek to ensure long-term resources to fund the energy transition and advance in low-emission investments, primarily in the electric transmission business. These investments will be made in the United States, mainly in the Permian (19 percent), as well as in Brazil (9 percent), Peru (3 percent) and Chile (3 percent).
more exploration
Ecopetrol also reported that 1,600 development wells will be drilled between 2023 and 2025, 574 of them in 2023. In addition, the drilling of 25 exploratory wells is expected in 2023, located in the Llanos Orientales, Valle Medio del Magdalena, Piedmonte and Offshore Caribbean.
Investments on this front, says the oil company, will make it possible to reach organic production levels in 2023 between 720,000 and 725,000 barrels of oil per day (76 percent oil and 24 percent gas and white products), and will be focused on improved recovery technologies for maximize existing resources in the deposits and protect the basic curve to compensate for the natural decline of the fields.
In the transportation segment, these investments correspond to 5 percent of the total plan for 2023, concentrating mainly on infrastructure integrity and reliability projects, developed by Cenit, Ocensa, ODC, and ODL, and includes resources associated with the pipeline expansion plan. whose objective is to guarantee the supply of refined products in the country.
Regarding refining, they will be 7% of the estimated total for 2023. These will continue to be focused on ensuring the reliability, availability and sustainability of the operation of the refineries of Barrancabermeja and Cartagena, to strengthen the country’s energy security, energy transition, and decarbonization, through the development of fuel quality programs and wastewater management, which will reduce imports, ensure fuels with less sulfur, and have increasingly cleaner effluents . The expected combined load of the refineries will be between 420,000 and 430,000 barrels per day.
Economy and business