Ecopetrol S.A. today announced that it has signed eight exploration and production (E&P) contracts with the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), corresponding to blocks awarded to the Company in the Colombia Open Round 2010.
The eight blocks cover a total area of more than 840 thousand hectares and are located in the Llanos (provinces of Arauca, Casanare and Meta), Valle Medio del Magdalena (Cundinamarca and Caldas) and Sinu-San Jacinto (Antioquia and Cordoba) basins, and the Pacific offshore.
Ecopetrol has a 100% stake in six of the contracts. In the SSJS 1 contract, its stake is 70%, with the other 30% belonging to the Korean company, SK Innovation Co. Ltd. In the VMM 32 contract, it holds a 51% stake, with the other 49% belonging to the Venezuelan company, CPVEN S.A.
As for the other two blocks awarded to Ecopetrol in the Colombia Open Round 2010 (Cayos 1 and Cayos 5), the contracts will be signed once the ANH reinitiates the corresponding process, which requires a prior determination by environmental officials regarding the necessary conditions for carrying out exploratory activities in the areas where the blocks are located. Ecopetrol has a 50% stake in these blocks, in partnership with the Spanish company Repsol and the Argentine company YPF.
Ecopetrol believes that the signing of these eight E&P contracts helps strengthen Ecopetrol´s exploratory activity and the search for new reserves with the aim of producing one million barrels equivalent per day by 2015.
