Colombia’s Minster of Mines and Energy Federico Renjifo on Thursday announced that the country’s oil reserves increased by 5.22% from 2011 to 2012.
“The net growth [in oil reserves] in 2012 was 5.22% versus the 2011 report, and an increase in relation to reserves over production,” said the minister. “We can affirm that the country has crude oil self-sufficiency for 6.9 years if we maintain the same level of production.”
As of December 31 2012 petroleum reserves were sitting at over 2.3 billion barrels, according to Renjifo. “We still have a good way to go, but this shows that we are in the right direction and properly pursuing our objectives.”
Of the 464 million barrels that have been produced since the end of 2012, 33% came from new discoveries. The minister claimed that this has been a notable change from the previous eight years, in which new discoveries generally accounted for only a 10% share.
In February of 2013 crude oil production increased by 10.9% over the same period in 2012.
MORE: Colombia records 10.9% growth in crude oil production
Sources
- Colombia aumentó sus reservas de crudo en un 5,22% (Ministry of mines and energy press release)