Unrest thwarts Frontera operations in Colombia
Ongoing protests in Colombia led to a decision to shut in some operations on the ground, Canadian-based Frontera Energy said June 3.
Toronto-based Frontera Energy made a light oil and gas discovery in Colombia early last year. During a 328-hour test period, the well flowed at an average rate of 2,395 b/day of oil and 10.7mn ft3/day of gas.
A year later and protests over a tax proposal from president Ivan Duque have limited operations for oil and gas explorers in the Latin American country. Frontera said that road blockades had hampered its ability to access some of its facilities, so it shut-in about 3,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day in production.
“The company is working with all levels of government and communities to understand and address local concerns and to resolve the blockades as quickly as possible,” it said.
Colombian energy company Ecopetrol said last month that its upstream, midstream, downstream and commercial and marketing segments were all impacted by the social unrest. Apart from road blockades, the company said there have been isolated incidents involving its infrastructure.
Despite the disruptions, Frontera said it was maintaining its production guidance for the year at 40,500-42,500 boe/d, assuming production will ramp up in the second half of the year.