A methane discovery in Colombia may ease regulatory hurdles for producers that want to export natural gas, Colombian oil association president Alejandro Martínez Villegas told BNamericas.
"The government has been worried about the growing natural gas deficit in the country and regulators have been interrupting natural gas export contracts," Martínez said after speaking at the BNamericas-IBC Energy Integration Congress in Santiago, Chile.
"But now with this large methane discovery, this problem will lessen and we'll return to a scenario where these kinds of regulations will not block the export of natural gas," he added.
Coal miner Drummond announced earlier in the month it had discovered methane reserve totaling 2.3Tf3 (65Bm3), according to local press reports.
Several natural gas producers that operate in Colombia have wanted to export to achieve higher prices.
Toronto-based Pacific Rubiales (TSX: PRE), for example, wants to export some gas from its La Creciente field via CNG to Caribbean markets but is awaiting regulatory approval.
