© Archyde.com/COLOMBIAN MINISTRY
FILE IMAGE. The Minister of Mines and Energy, Diego Mesa, poses for a photograph, in Bogotá, Colombia
By Marianna Parraga
HOUSTON, March 8 (Archyde.com) – The Colombian government has begun talks with the country’s coal producers to boost exports following requests for additional supplies from European, Central American and Caribbean nations, the mines and energy minister said on Tuesday. Diego Table.
The official’s comments come as global energy flows are disrupted by the crisis in Ukraine.
Colombia’s coal production was affected in 2020 by low demand and a long strike at a major mine.
The country’s power producers have scrambled to recover output since last year amid a growing need for fuels for power generation, especially in Europe.
“These days with the issue of Ukraine and Russia we have received urgent requests to facilitate coal sales to Poland, Ukraine through the World Bank, the Dominican Republic and Central America,” Mesa told Archyde.com on the sidelines of the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston.
“We are not going to supply enough, so we are talking with the companies to see what surpluses there are and what can be done,” he added.
The talks involve Glencore’s Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia’s La Guajira department and a unit of British miner Drummond Co that operates coal projects near La Loma, also in the country’s north.
Colombia had received a similar request in September from the Dominican government to supply coal needed for power generation after a supplier failed to honor a contract with the Caribbean nation, Mesa said.
After falling in 2020, Colombia’s coal production increased 12% last year and was projected to reach around 64 million tons this year. But the country could produce up to 70 million tons amid higher global demand, the minister said.
Like the mining industry, Colombia’s oil production is rising this year after declining for two years in a row. Output hit some 750,000 bpd in February, close to its target of 780,000-800,000 bpd for the latest quarter and 770,000 bpd for 2022.
“It was a hard blow,” Mesa said. “In this industry, closing wells is easy, but reopening them takes time.”
Colombia wants to add 80,000-100,000 bpd in the next 12-18 months, Mesa said, saying infrastructure limitations and environmental permits are holding back higher production.
The oil revenues will be welcomed by Colombia, which obtains about 40% of its income from hydrocarbon exports. “After the pandemic, we need to get our finances back,” Mesa said.
The Andean nation, which has signed 69 energy exploration and production contracts in recent years, expects that investment in the search for reserves, especially gas, will continue to increase.
The oil regulator, the National Hydrocarbons Agency, is adding emission reduction targets to the competition for exploration and production blocks.
(Report by Marianna Párraga, translated by Nelson Bocanegra)