Colombia awards 10 oil blocks with US$500mn in investments

Hocol and Geopark Colombia were the big winners in Colombia's first auction of the permanent offer process 2019, in which 10 of 11 oil blocks on offer were awarded, with US$500mn committed in investments.

The auction took place a day after the country's oil production was reported to have increased 3.3% year-on-year in May to 894,518boe/d. The figure confirms that output has been recovering, growing 4.4% so far this year.

"In this first auction, investment commitments have been generated for more than US$500 million, a figure that, added to the five offshore contracts already signed, exceeds US$1.5 billion," said Luis Miguel Morelli, head of the national hydrocarbons agency (ANH).

The following table shows the details of the 10 blocks that were awarded.

In the case of block VM22, ANH explained that it has yet to decide on the bid, and that it will do so on July 8. After that, only Geopark Colombia SAS will have the option of improving its bid.