The former president Iván Duque spoke this Thursday about the announcements by the Minister of Mines, Irene Vélez, regarding the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the country.
At the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, Vélez said Colombia will not sign new oil and gas exploration contracts: “It is a sign of our fight against climate change,” he said.
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For Duque, that Colombia stop exploring oil and gas, “It means a kind of economic and social suicide.”
The former president, from the Democratic Center, said that more than 75% of our energy matrix depends on water and steps have been taken as a society so that between 14 and 20% of the electricity produced in the country derives from renewable energies unconventional, mainly photovoltaic.
Duke said that oil and gas represent more than 40% of our exportsmore than 30% of foreign direct investment and is one of the main sources of market capitalization in our stock market and one of our main sources of foreign exchange for the economy.
For Duke, There are no products that can replace such a weight in the short and medium term.
The former president pointed out that Colombia is moving towards the transition and can do so by living with oil and gas while maintaining its reserves and said that to maintain that reserve, more exploration is required.
“If exploration stops, the message we are giving investors around the world is that Colombia’s main source of income is going to disappear and that is going to generate uncertainty, concern, and a large outflow of capital from our country. We must avoid that these messages are givenbecause they are wrong messages and have nothing to do with the energy transition”, highlighted the former president.
(Also read: These are the political reactions to Irene Vélez’s announcement)
The work route that Vélez proposes for this portfolio is in line with the ideas of President Gustavo Petro, who, from the political campaign, emphasized that he would implement an energy policy different from what has been seen in the country.
“The first decision that I am going to make is to stop contracting for oil exploration in Colombia. It is a clear message: we are going towards a productive economy, not an extractivist one,” the candidate Petro told EL TIEMPO at the time.