Rosneft and Ecopetrol Agree on Colombian Oil Sales

Rosneft and Ecopetrol, the participants in the Colombia Energy consortium, have signed a contract to sell oil from the Suroriente field in southern Colombia. According to Rosneft's press office, the document states that the oil will be sold at the Santana station, which is an entry point to Ecopetrol's pipeline.

According to Rosneft's press office, oil is currently being transported from the oil field to the main pipeline by a temporary oil tanker scheme. In the future, its is planned to move to a permanent system, for which a branch pipeline will be built from the oil field in 2003. The main pipeline runs through Ecuador and Colombia and will deliver oil from the Suroriente field to the Colombian port of Tumaco on the Pacific coast. After the permanent transport system has been brought into use, extraction at the oil field will be increased to 180 thousand barrels per month. The cost of oil from Suroriente will be set according to world oil prices.

In 2001 Rosneft (45%), Petrotesting Colombia (27.5%) and Holsan Chemicals (27.5%) won a tender to develop the field as a joint project. In the same year Colombia Energy and Ecopetrol signed an agreement on joint operations. According to the contract, a minimum of USD 7 million must be spent to develop the field. The estimated reserves of the field are around 350 million barrels. Colombia Energy received its first oil from the Suroriente field at the end of December 2002.

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