March 31st, 2020
ANH

The National Hydrocarbons Agency ("ANH") joins the emergency measures adopted by the National Government to face the health contingency due to the propagation of COVID-19 and the international fall in oil prices. 

In addition to the measures already announced regarding the suspension of the attention to the public and on the forms of work for its employees and contractors (see more), the ANH published the following documents: 

1.    Addendum No. 10 of March 25, 2020 to the schedule of the Permanent Area Allocation Process ("PPAA"): by means of this addendum the ANH determines that the companies interested in participating in the PPAA will have until April 3, 2020 to submit the documents for their qualification. The current stage for qualification corresponds to the fourth cut established in the schedule. The ANH will give a final response and publish the list of qualified companies on April 17, 2020. 

On the other hand, qualified companies will have the possibility of requesting the incorporation of a certain area to the PPAA. In order for their application to be resolved on the next date of publication of areas, that is July 2020, companies must submit their request for incorporation before May 4, 2020. 

For more information on this addendum, please click on the following link: Addendum No. 10.

2.    Draft Agreement by means of which measures are adopted for the strengthening of the hydrocarbons sector aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of the fall in international crude oil prices ("Draft Agreement"): the ANH intends to adopt transitory measures to mitigate the adverse effects that may arise in Colombia due to the drop in international oil prices, specifically in the contracts entered into with the ANH. For such purpose, contractors may: 

  • Agree on extensions to the terms and deadlines of the of contractual phases.
  • Modify the terms and percentages of the compliance guarantees, provided that the resulting value remains guaranteed with a letter of credit, bank guarantee or another instrument previously approved by the ANH.
  • Transfer of exploration activities and investments. The transfer of exploration activities or investments between agreements executed by the ANH may be presented without the offer of additional investment (five percent (5%) of the total unexecuted or remaining investment).

For the application of these measures, compliance with the applicable rules contained in this Draft Agreement must be verified. Likewise, the measures must be requested by the contractor to the ANH accompanied by the supporting documents to satisfy the requirements set forth for each case.

To see the Draft Agreement, please click on the following link: Draft Agreement.  

Finally, it is important to highlight that the observations to the Draft Agreement must be sent through the Excel format provided for such purpose which was published together with the Draft Agreement, to the e-mail: laura.ramos@anh.gov.co. The ANH will receive comments  until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday April 1st, 2020.  
 

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