Venezuela's Prodata Energy to Export Gas to Colombia

The government of Venezuela has authorized the private company Prodata Energy to export natural gas to Colombia, as part of the re-establishment of relations between the two countries.

Caracas-based Prodata Energy is authorized to send gas to Colombia through an inactive 224-kilometre pipeline that extends from the deposits in the western region of Venezuela to the northeast of Colombia.

The pipeline, which has the capacity to transport 450 million cubic feet a day, has been inactive since 2015, and extends from Riohacha, in the Colombian state of La Guajira, to Bajo Grande, in the state of Zulia, in Venezuela.

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According to the document signed in July, Prodata will deliver 25 million cubic feet of gas per day through a Colombian distributor, Energy Transitions SAS ESP. This will allow Venezuela to diversify energy exports and boost its economy.

The agreement between Venezuela and Colombia permits Prodata Energy to export gas for 30 years; however, repairs must first be carried out on the gas pipeline that will distribute it. The deal revives an agreement signed in 2007 between then President Hugo Chávez and former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, which created the Antonio Ricaurte trans-Caribbean gas pipeline to export gas to South and Central America.

Venezuela has the largest gas reserves in Latin America, more than 70 times those of Colombia.

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This agreement represents a change, since Venezuela, for more than a century focused on the production and export of crude oil. Last year, the country produced 24 billion cubic meters of gas for the domestic market.

Last week, state oil company Ecopetrol SA promised to resume a separate deal for gas shipments “in the future” and said that officials had visited Caracas for talks. In addition, private energy companies from Colombia have visited the country.

(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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