The National Hydrocarbons Agency ("ANH") issued Agreements 5 and 6 of 2021 with important guidelines for the processes of allocation of areas and transfer of investments.

Under Agreement 6 of 2021 through which the ANH adds guidelines for the Permanent Process of Allocation of Areas ("PPAA"), and in consideration of the exceptional economic and social circumstances that at the international level implied the spread of COVID-19 in the year 2020, including its effect on the hydrocarbons market that impacted the economic and financial circumstances of companies engaged in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, the ANH will allow that for the Fourth Cycle of the PPAA:

1. The Interested parties requesting qualification can accredit their Financial Economic Capacity according to the Financial Statements of the year 2019 and their Technical and Operational Capacity according to the data of reserves and production of that year.
2. The qualified participants in the Third Cycle (list published on October 22, 2020) continue to be qualified without the need to update the information.

On the other hand, under Agreement 5 of 2021, the ANH adopts transitional relief measures, applicable from July 14, 2021, for the holders of Contracts and Agreements for the Exploration and Production of Hydrocarbons in order to strengthen the hydrocarbons sector, promote economic reactivation and ensure the development of the schedules of activities of the current contracts. In this regard, the ANH states that:

1. The deadlines for the preliminary or phase 0 phases, exploratory programs, subsequent exploratory programs, evaluation programs, exploitation periods and the deadlines for the submission of the Notice of Discovery, the Evaluation Program, the Declaration of Commerciality, the Program for the Benefit of the Communities in the Contracts and Agreements that have been affected by the blockades and de facto routes will be restored taking into account the reasonable necessary term for the resumption of activities in a normal way, without prejudice to the fact that the duration of the event had been less than two (2) months. To this end, the contractor must state in writing to the ANH the activities whose schedule has been affected within 15 calendar days following the occurrence of the events.
2. Requests for transfers of exploration activities or investments (Article 5 of Agreement 01 of 2020), may be destined to available areas (offered by the ANH or incorporated by interested parties), within the framework of the Colombia Round 2021 and based on the grounds:

• Paragraph (b) of Article 3 of Agreement 01 of 2020 (pending or remaining investment), without the need to coexist an area under evaluation or production
• Paragraph (c) of Article 3 of Agreement 01 of 2020 (which refers to disturbances of public order, administrative acts or judicial decisions), without the requirement to return the area under exploration of the initial contract, but in the understanding that it must continue with pending exploratory commitments.
• Paragraph (a) of Article 3 of Agreement 01 of 2020 (resignation to the initial contract in which there is remaining investment with the proposal to execute such investments in other contracts or agreements), in which case the contractor must return the corresponding area.

In these cases, except as provided in this Agreement 6, the transfer request shall be governed by the provisions of Agreement 01 of 2020.

Agreements 5 and 6 of 2021 can be accessed here:
https://www.anh.gov.co/la-anh/sobre-la-anh/normatividad/Normatividad/ACUERDO%20005%20DEL%2014%20DE%20JULIO%20DE%202021.pdf
https://www.anh.gov.co/la-anh/sobre-la-anh/normatividad/Normatividad/ACUERDO%20006%20DEL%2014%20DE%20JULIO%20DE%202021.pdf