Colombia sitting on big oil reserves

Colombia in South America has large oil reserves. It shouldn't be a complete surprise. Venezuela next door has produced oil since around 1920 and is a major world source. Brazil has started high production of oil. Indeed, the headlines have been "Brazil to attain energy independence with ethanol from sugar can." But that is less than half the picture. in 2005, Brazil consumed 2,000,000 barrels of oil per day, versus 280,000 barrels of ethanol. So ethanol consumption is 1/7 that of oil. [Ethanol in Brazil]

FT.com / In depth - Colombia sitting on big oil reserves:

Colombia’s heavy oil area could hold 20bn barrels of recoverable resources, giving the country greater reserves than leading producers such as Mexico and Algeria, said its natural resources agency.

Foreign investment in Colombia’s oil and gas industry is booming, and the country hopes to lift oil production to 1m barrels a day in the next decade, from about 550,000 b/d currently.

Colombia’s heavy oil potential is dwarfed by that of its neighbour Venezuela, which is estimated to have at least 240bn barrels recoverable in its Orinoco belt region. But Colombia has the great advantage of welcoming foreign investment.

It is one of the few countries with significant resources becoming more accessible to international companies, and capable of growth in oil exports.

The ANH, Colombia’s national hydrocarbons agency, is on Wednesday setting out details of Colombia’s second licensing round in London, following presentations in Houston last week.

Larger companies have been invited to bid for heavy oil exploration acreage in the Llanos Basin, towards the border with Venezuela.