According to Colombian daily El
Espectador, investment in exploration and production in the Colombian oil
industry fell by 72% in 2015 over the amount invested in 2014, to a low of just
$396 million. Campetrol, the Colombian oil sector trade association that
carried out the study of oil sector investment, warned that the lack of
investment is particularly concerning because Colombia’s oil reserves are only
expected to last another 6.5 years.
Campetrol emphasized that, “From there, it is important that
the most important oil company in Colombia, Ecopetrol, dynamize exploration in
order to avoid that the Nation be without oil, as this would necessarily lead
to importation.” El Espectador noted that the decline in oil sector investment
especially began to be felt starting in December 2014, when oil companies all
around the globe started slashing their investment budgets due to reduced oil
prices.
In related news, the International Monetary Fund revised
downwards its expectations for economic growth in Colombia for this year, from
2.7% to just 2.5%. Jorge Roldos, the head of the Fund’s mission to Colombia,
explained that the change was due to the lingering effects of the Colombian oil
crisis. He stressed that the country needs to act quickly to pass a structural
tax reform bill to replace the oil revenue.
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