Montecz, C & C Energy, Hupecol, Winchester, Petrominerales, Petrocolombia, Conequipos, and Union Temporal Omega are only some of the companies to extract oil from Colombian soil.The companies have been coming to Colombia to develop mining projects, not only because of the steady increase of the oil price, but also because of a more relaxed investment climate compared to for example Venezuela and the large number of undiscovered or unexploited oil wells, that are considered too small by large multinationals.The companies are concentrating on relatively shallow wells that in some cases are no deeper than 5,000 meters. Some wells are already being exploited and are contributing to a growing amount of barrels exported by Colombia.According to statistics from the oil industry, the discovery and exploitation of small wells increased production with 16,150 barrels per day. 11,850 of these were findings by large companies. 4,300 were produced by small and medium-sized firms.Compared to the 531,000 barrels of oil Colombia produces per day, the amount of barrels coming from small wells may seem insignificant, but director of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), Armando Zamora, insists that this new production can reach 30,000 barrels per day in the coming years when these areas are developed and drilled for more wells.
