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The North American company leaves La Guajira after 46 years of signing the contract to extract natural gas in the Chuchupa A and B fields in the Caribbean Sea, as well as the Ballena land field, both located in the municipality of Manaure.
At the time it was called Texaco, which signed an exploitation contract with Ecopetrol on May 31, 1974, where the American company owned 43 percent of the exploration and production rights, which it acquired from the Colombian company Hocol, belonging to the Grupo Empresarial Ecopetrol, which owns 57 percent.
After several years the American company changed its name and became Chevron and in mid-November 2019, the intention that the multinational existed to sell the shares it had in La Guajira became known.
It was also learned that the main interested party was Hocol, a company of the Ecopetrol Group, in that sense there was an agreement signing the sale for the first half of 2020 with the approval of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce.
In other words, with this purchase, the Colombian company Ecopetrol becomes the owner of 100 percent of the rights to explore and produce the gas that leaves La Guajira and that consumes a large part of Colombians.
The Hocol company started the operation of the Chuchupa A and B and Ballena gas fields at 00:00 hours on this May 1, 2020, using all the facilities and most of the personnel who are Colombian and where there are many guajiros.
For his part, the president of Hocol, Rafael Guzmán, told the newspaper El Tiempo that, in the face of the emergency caused by the Coronavirus, “we have been acting with the greatest responsibility, rigorously applying the necessary protocols to safeguard the health of our workers, contractors, and communities in the area of influence, and we ratify our commitment to the development of La Guajira ”.
The acquired fields have a total production potential of 175 million cubic feet per day (about 31,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day), the Colombian company said in a press release.
Additionally, the contract area has a remaining exploration potential that will be subject to a detailed evaluation and maturation process aimed at increasing the total reserve potential of the asset.
With the acquisition of these participations, Hocol advances in the consolidation of its growth strategy and diversification of its portfolio. The increase in the share of natural gas in its portfolio, which goes from 28 to 50 percent, allows not only to contribute to the purpose of energy transition, but also to strengthen the company’s solid financial position in the face of price volatility. of the oil.
With this acquisition, Hocol will increase its total production in the country by 42 percent, reaching levels above 43,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (includes royalties). Likewise, it increases its participation in the gas market in Colombia, which reaches 10 percent, becoming the third largest gas producer in the country.
Additionally, the transaction will allow Hocol to develop offshore operation capabilities, thereby expanding its possibilities of contributing to the development of the Colombian oil industry, the country, and communities.
The transfer of the operation was carried out with the greatest responsibility, rigorously applying the necessary protocols to take care of the health of the workers, contractors, and communities in the area of operation.
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