The Colombian state energy company Ecopetrol announced this Wednesday that the Colombian government included the binational Antonio Ricaurte gas pipeline in the list of Projects of National and Strategic Interest, with the objective of rehabilitating its infrastructure and importing natural gas from Venezuela.
The work, which has remained inactive for more than a decade, has a length of 225 kilometers that connect the department of La Guajira with the Lake Maracaibo basin in the state of Zulia.
Once its technical operation is restored, the pipeline will have a maximum transportation capacity of up to 450 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, which represents close to 50% of Colombian demand.
In the first stage of the project, the Colombian oil company contemplates the import of 50 million cubic feet per day from the Venezuelan market, a volume equivalent to about 5% of national oil consumption. Colombia.
“The initiative will allow progress in the rehabilitation of an infrastructure with the capacity to transport up to 450 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, equivalent to about half of national consumption,” Ecopetrol said in a statement. corporate statement.
The need to diversify supply sources responds to the deficit faced by the Colombian energy sector, where approximately 40% of the consumed supply needs to be imported.
The reduction in proven reserves and the pressures associated with climatic variations such as El Niño phenomenon have accelerated efforts to incorporate direct pipeline transportation alternatives, avoiding the operating costs of liquefaction and regasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Despite the announcement of the inclusion of the project in the national priority agenda, the state company did not specify a date for the start-up of the gas flows or the amount of investment required for the structural maintenance of the line.
“The 50 million cubic feet per day planned for the first phase correspond to a supply expectation, the materialization of which depends on compliance with the technical and regulatory requirements,” the company indicated. institutional representation on pending procedures before regulatory bodies and international authorizations.
The coordination of the permits and inter-institutional procedures required for the adaptation of the section of 88 kilometers on Colombian soil and 137 kilometers in Venezuelan territory will be in charge of the Vice Presidency of the Republic of Colombia.
With the measure, Caracas and Bogotá reopen the regional energy integration channel inaugurated in 2007, opening space for Venezuelan participation in the hydrocarbon market of the Andean region.
