Arrest “to the rough” the oil exploration in Colombia will affect “to the energy security of the country“and could suppose”serious problems to finance the social agenda“, according to him Former Colombian President Iván Duque.
In an interview with EFE in Madrid, where he is to participate in the Concordia Summit on global challenges such as energy security or cybersecurityDuque recalls the steps that the country took in environmental matters during his term (2018-2022) and questions the approaches of the current president, Gustavo Petro.
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“The energy transition is a necessity, but it is a transition“, says about Petro’s decision to stop exploration to find new oil deposits as a measure to protect the environment.
As Duque recalls, “The hydrocarbons sector represents in Colombia more than 40% of exports, more than 30% of direct foreign investment and more than 20% of tax collection in the country“.”Replacing an economic source of that level is not easy,” he stresses while ensuring that his government “planted the path” to begin said transition “with several premises“.
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Among them stands out that Colombia has “one of the cleanest energy matrixes in the world where more than 85% is with renewables” as well as the development of an industry to obtain “green hydrogen“.
Petro’s lack of “coherence”
In Duque’s opinion, President Petro is falling into a “lack of coherence” because at the same time that it prohibits the search for oil, “what is subsidizing the most is diesel“.
(Ministry says that the country will continue exploring and exploiting oil).
“It makes you lose coherence and trying to stop the hydrocarbon sector without an ecological, economic or social transition can lead to Colombia having serious problems financing its social agenda and, therefore, affecting the poorest“:”It is something that demagogy sometimes does not perceive“.
In this sense, he is very critical of this stop in the search for crude oil and although he acknowledges that Colombia has “reserves for almost eight years“, considers that suspending exploration generates “an uncertain future“.
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“Oil does not appear easily, you have to search for it massively to see if something turns up, suspending exploration is to stop looking and that means generating uncertainty for the future because we can have reserves for almost eight years, but we need to continue exploring, both on the coast as in the territory“, Explain.
For all these reasons, he believes that this decision “it’s not just a big clumsiness” but “structurally affects the country’s energy security for the future“.
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Duque, defender of an energy transition with “nature-based solutions with a market approach“, points out that other actions are also necessary to mitigate the effects of climate change.
For this reason, he asks that the hydrocarbons industry “be more environmentally rigorous” and further promote the use of electric vehicles in your country.
EFE
