Canadian oil company Gran Tierra Energy (GTE) announced Monday that it has discovered oil in Colombia’s Putumayo Basin and hopes to begin production in early 2011, announced the company’s website.
The oil exploration and production company, which in December last year revealed plans to invest heavily in Colombian oil production, said it has completed initial testing of the Moqueta-1 exploration well, located in the Chaza bloc of the Putumayo.
“We are preparing to drill a second well and initiate a 3-D seismic acquisition survey in the area to give us further information on the size and productive capacity of the new discovery. Finally, planning to initiate long term testing has begun, with early production anticipated in the first quarter of 2011,” said Dana Coffield, president and chief executive officer of Gran Tierra Energy Inc.
Coffield added that “The successful discovery of oil with the first well in Gran Tierra Energy’s 2010 exploration program further reinforces the strength of our exploration portfolio.”
GTE announced that it will invest $129.3 million, 66.3% of its total budget, in exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Colombia.
The Canadian company is considered one of the most successful oil companies that has entered Colombia in recent years, as it has increased its net production from approximately 700 barrels per day in 2006 to about 14,000 today.
