Colombia begins to import gas after 45 years, analysts consider it a risk

After more than 45 years of producing natural gas for domestic consumption, Colombia has begun to import it, amid declining reserves and little incentive for well exploration.

The announcement of the import takes place after months of alerts by businessmen in the energy sector on this matter.

According to official figures from the Natural Gas Market Manager, a deficit of 8.2% in total gas demand is expected in Colombia by 2025, and it would increase to 20.6% in 2026 if structural solutions are not implemented.

This deficit, according to analysts consulted by the Voice of Americais the result of several factors, including the decline in “national reserves.”

“Imports make Colombia dependent on them, and what is at risk and the threat is that the country is losing energy security and sovereignty,” said Amylkar Acosta, former Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy.

In this first phase, the company TPLGas, in charge of distribution, reported that it has made available 40 million thermal gas units, which began to arrive in the country.

This import, experts add, has been “aggravated” by the policies of President Gustavo Petro’s government to “rule out” the signing of new exploration contracts that could ensure long-term supply.

“The government’s policy of ruling out the signing of new exploration contracts is a message that discourages the oil industry and means that we are reaching historic lows in the number of wells drilled,” explained former Minister Acosta..

Colombia until now had maintained stable national production thanks to gas fields. For Clara Inés Pardo, an economist and professor at the School of Administration of the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá and an expert in energy issues, although large gas discoveries have been made in the country in recent decades, “the necessary studies were not carried out for their exploitation”.

“The country has found gas, but exploitation becomes very complex due to infrastructure issues and others, which makes it economically unviable. So, that has put us in a dilemma that now we have to go out and import,” said Pardo.

The depletion of these resources and the impossibility of developing new fields with the necessary speed is another item that for Pardo has led the country to depend on external actors.

“Now, because we have not generated other sources of energy, we are faced with how to supply internal demand; Well, we have to look for alternatives and one of them is the import of natural gas,” added Pardo.

Challenges presented by importing

Although gas is considered less polluting than other fossil fuels, for Camilo Prieto, professor of the master’s degree in Energy and Sustainability at the Javeriana University of Bogotá, its importation can increase the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“The import of liquefied natural gas has the peculiarity that it is three times more expensive and, additionally, it has higher greenhouse gas emissions because it is a gas that has to be liquefied at -162 degrees; That is, you have to freeze it and then regasify it to use it,” he stated.

“This translates into a greater amount of greenhouse gases related to energy use in Colombia,” he added.

“This imported gas is not from conventional wells, but from unconventional fields and must be extracted with fracking. Furthermore, transporting it in LNG tankers requires a lot of energy, and defrosting it and turning it into gas also requires a lot of energy. Adding all this, the intensity of greenhouse emissions from liquefied natural gas will be much higher than that of national gas,” revealed Prieto.

The Minister of Energy of Colombia, Andrés Camacho, declared to the media that the gas that began to be imported into the country, but that said import does not mean that “it will be used immediately” and that its import is due to an expansion of reserves in in case a “growth in demand” is generated.

In that order, due to increases in pollution levels associated with greenhouse gases, their importation could raise the costs of consumption in homes due to their logistics chain, which can be up to three times more expensive compared to local production. .

“The supply of 30 million people had been provided with local gas, and that deficit to guarantee supply must be filled with this imported gas. That is obviously going to generate a higher cost on the energy bill,” said Prieto.

For his part, Pardo concludes that although it has been said that the costs will not be reflected immediately in household bills, it is undeniable that this import will “imply, in the medium and long term, an increase in households in the price of natural gas.”

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