Colombia expects its oil production to rise to above 800,000 barrels per day next year thanks to output from new fields and technology applied to existing projects, the government said on Thursday.
National Hydrocarbons Agency director Armando Zamora said Colombia would now be self-sufficient in petroleum though 2020. Its oil output surpassed 700,000 bpd in October this year.
Foreign direct investment in the Andean country’s oil sector is expected to reach US$3.5 billion in 2010, Zamora said.
Colombia is enjoying a “mini boom” in oil investment as violence from the country’s four-decade-old war subsides. President Alvaro Uribe has sent troops out to retake areas once under the control of leftist rebels and paramilitaries and bombings, attacks and kidnappings have dropped sharply. (Reuters)