Petrobras, Ecopetrol confirm significant gas discovery offshore Colombia
Petrobras, through Petrobras International Braspetro, a Colombian branch (PIB-COL), and Ecopetrol have confirmed what they claim is Colombia's most significant gas discovery ever by drilling the Sirius-2 well.
The Sirius-2 well started being drilled on June 19, 2024. It lies inside the area of the maritime block GUA-OFF-0, 77 kilometres off Santa Marta (capital of the Magdalena department, in the country's north), at a water depth of 803 metres.
Petrobras said the assessment of the Sirius-2 well results confirmed local volumes of over six trillion cubic feet (Tcf) (170 billion cubic metres) in place (VGIP). This discovery may increase Colombia's current reserves by 200 per cent.
Because of this result, the consortium formed by PIB-COL, as the operator (44.44 per cent stake), and Ecopetrol (55.56 per cent stake) will start gathering oceanic metadata as a part of the discovery's Production Development Project.
Those data, combined with environmental information about the bottom of the sea, bathymetry, and geotechnical/geophysical information, are essential to the installation of the gas pipeline that will carry natural gas from the field to the onshore gas treatment unit, including the installation of subsea production systems.
The consortium expects to invest US$1.2 billion in the exploratory phase and another US$2.9 billion in the production development phase. The investments apportioned to PIB-COL are included in Petrobras's 2025-2029 Business Plan.
Natural gas production is projected to start within three years of securing all environmental licenses, aiming for a 2027 launch if the discovery proves commercially viable. Through four producing wells in an innovative design "subsea to shore," the expected production is roughly 13 million cubic metres per day for 10 years.
Based on this discovery, with a substantial volumetric potential for natural gas, the social/environmental and licensing procedures required to carry the gas to consumer centers will begin.
