By Decree 0714 of 2012, the National Hydrocarbons Agency ("ANH") has the function of optimally managing, the hydrocarbon resources of Colombia. Therefore, each year ANH publishes the report of reserves and contingent resources of hydrocarbons of Colombia.

In the Naturgas Congress, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Irene Vélez, revealed the results of the resources and reserves report for December 2022 (hereinafter the “Report”), that we highlight the following:
 

1. Proven oil reserves went from 2,039 million barrels reported in 2021 to 2,074 million barrels in 2022, which means that there was an increase of 35 million barrels with regard to 2021, equivalent to a growth of 1,017%.
   
   According to Irene Vélez, this increase responds to the behavior of the improved recovery technique, which went from 21% to 23%.


2. Annual oil production was 275 million barrels in 2022, revealing an increase of 6 million with regard to 2021 production, which means an R/P ratio of 7.5 years. However, the R/P ratio for 2021 was 7.6 years.
   
   According to Decree 2100 of 2011 compiled by Decree 1073 of 2015, the R/P factor is the result of dividing the reference reserves by the reference production and will be calculated and published by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, at least once a year.  


3. The proven gas reserves were 2.82 tera cubic feet ("Tcf") for 2022, which means a difference of -0.35 with regard to 2021, equivalent to a decrease of 11 %.


4. The marketed gas production was 0.39 Tcf for 2022, which means an R/P ratio of 7.2 years. It’s important to consider that for 2021 the R/P ratio was of 8 years. 


5. Regarding crude oil and gas contingent resources, by the end of 2022, in the case of crude oil, they increased by 204 million barrels, while in the case of gas, they increased to 5.8 tera cubic feet. According to ANH’s president, Clara Liliana Guatame, 2.9 Tcf corresponds to reclassified resources of the Sinú and Guajira Offshore basins and 2.8 Tcf to onshore fields.

Finally, we highlight that, as reported by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the contribution of the departments to the oil and gas reserves is as follows:

To read the press release from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, please click the following link:

Press release from the Ministry of Mines and Energy

To review the report: 

reserves and contingent resources of hydrocarbons 2022