Colombian corporations are bracing for fuel rationing because the nation’s sole import terminal closes for scheduled upkeep, casting a highlight on the Andean nation’s widening provide deficit.
In a bid to keep away from blackouts on the populous Atlantic coast, the Vitality Ministry has mentioned it is going to prioritize provide to native gas-fired energy crops, households and small companies in the course of the Oct. 10-14 outage of the SPEC liquefied pure fuel terminal outdoors Cartagena.
Whereas the LNG import facility pauses operations, round one-third of commercial fuel demand will probably be unmet, in line with trade commerce group Asoenergía.
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Though the upkeep is transient, some factories have furnaces that require a number of days to fully shut off and days extra to restart.
The shortage is pitting Colombia’s greatest industrial and business power customers in opposition to energy mills.
The federal government prefers to allocate fuel provide cuts to industries though energy mills ought to have well timed backups in place that they’re paid to take care of, mentioned Sandra Fonseca, head of Asoenergía. “This hurts industrial output,” she mentioned in a written response to questions, including that the businesses received’t be compensated for the shortfall.
The commerce group representing energy mills, often known as Andeg, declined to remark.
Colombia started importing LNG in 2016 to often gasoline thermal energy crops as recurring droughts restricted the nation’s mainstay hydroelectric models.
Then on the finish of 2024, Colombia resorted to LNG to fulfill demand from households and companies as home fuel manufacturing declined.
The Andean nation, which is now going through a structural fuel shortfall of round 17% of complete demand, will see that hole widen to as a lot as 20% subsequent yr, in line with commerce group Naturgas. If by 2029 no new home sources of fuel are added, the shortfall may attain as excessive as 56%, the group says.
Whereas Colombia’s oil and fuel reserves had been declining for years earlier than President Gustavo Petro got here to energy in 2022, his administration has exacerbated the decline by freezing new drilling contracts. He has additionally sought to revive a plan to import pipeline fuel from neighboring Venezuela that few Colombians belief would be capable of ship it amid US sanctions and rising tensions.
Dealing with blistering criticism over the fuel rationing, Petro blamed earlier governments for permitting SPEC to be a “non-public monopoly.”
He was responding to former Senate president Efraín Cepeda, one among many presidential hopefuls vowing to revive precedence to grease and fuel exploration. Petro leaves workplace subsequent yr.
SPEC is owned by Colombian fuel firm Promigas SA and Rotterdam-based Koninklijke Vopak NV.
State-controlled oil firm Ecopetrol SA is finalizing plans to arrange new LNG import amenities, with a primary one in Colombia’s Pacific coast set to start out working late subsequent yr.
Ecopetrol Chief Government Officer Ricardo Roa mentioned this week the corporate will substitute a part of its personal fuel consumption with oil liquids to liberate provide for different customers.
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