In Colombia There are three sectors that mainly consume the natural gas that is produced: industry, thermal generation and residential consumption. This is reflected in a study of the Energy Mining Planning Unit (Upme).
In this it is evident that the main plaintiffs of Thermal and households are Gases from the Caribbean, Vanti and Termobarranquilla. ANDThese three bought some 380 million cubic feet per day (Mpcd) throughout 2022, being the main players from a demand perspective.
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According to the data of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) throughout 2022 there were 1678 Mpcdwhich means that these three actors demanded 22.6% of the national production.
“Natural gas is the energy most used by the industrial sector of the country (represents 30% of the total national demand), in second place, thermoelectric plants with 23% and then residential demand with 20%.”, pointed out Luz Stella Murgas, president of Naturgas.
As evidenced in the data and in the graph, the distribution and commercialization to residential points means one of the main demands. It is worth remembering that according to the most recent report on the sector published by Promigas, close to 67% of Colombian households have access to this public service, one of the highest figures in the region. This represents 10.4 million residential connections, covering close to 36 million users.
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“In the last 25 years, natural gas service coverage in Colombia has increased from 17% to 67%, today benefiting 10.8 million homesMurgas said.
Besides this, the analysis showed that 85% of these consumers belong to strata 1, 2 and 3which makes it one of the cheapest cooking fuels, its effect on low-income households is remarkable.
Likewise, Naturgas points out that this energy consumption has a series of advantages, related to the reduction of poverty in the territories. A study by the firm Inclusion SAS entitled “Natural Gas as a vehicle to increase well-being and reduce energy deprivation in households in Colombia” shows a correlation between the connection to natural gas networks and the reduction of poverty.
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Although there are still 1.6 million households that still use charcoal, firewood or waste for cooking, What is certain is that the permeation of this energy source has been increasing and today represents 22.6% of the total energy demand.
Another of the main gas consumers in the country is thermal generation. In 2022, the installed capacity of this technology was 5,695 megawattsbeing the second energy with the highest capacity, after hydraulics.
This supports the system especially when there are periods of drought and the generation with water reduces its volume of contribution to the matrix. However, this contributes even in times of high hydrology.
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In accordance with Alejandro Castañeda, director of Andegthe installed gas generation capacity is about 4,600 megawatts.
He explains that currently, in the middle of a moment of high hydrology, the thermal plants put about 15% of the current energy generation and half of this is gas and the other half is coal.
That is to say, almost 7% of electricity is produced with this energywhich makes the thermal plants the largest buyers of natural gas.
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Castañeda points out that they are about 25% of energy sales, being 250 million cubic feet per day.
However, this can increase drastically when there is a El Niño phenomenonwhen participation can increase substantially.
Murgas points out that the gas consumed locally is produced in the country. However, it should be remembered that the country has the El Cayao regasification plantlocated in Cartagena. This, according to Castañeda, has as its main objective to supply the demand of the thermal plants located on the coast.
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Additionally, it is imported through the port of good luckwhere it is brought Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) which is part of a pilot ecopetrol. This has the objective of supplying the demand of the Pacific.
“Micro LNG gives us the option of having small volumes that in the future will allow us to serve remote communities and ensure market growth.”, he explained at the time Yeimy Báez, vice president of Low Emission Solutions of the company.
Murgas pointed out that as internal consumption is due “guarantee the supply and reliability of natural gas in the country, as well as meet the future demand for energy. For this, it is necessary to maintain and accelerate the exploratory activity to achieve strong advances towards the energy transition”. This taking into account that demand is estimated to continue to grow each year.
Thermal generation is 70% gas
In the Colombian generation matrix, the largest component is hydroelectric. However, in second place is thermal, which according to hydrology can be up to half of the generation. In March it represented 12.8% of the total. Additionally, XM pointed out that 70% of this was produced with gas.
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