Since then, on 19 March, Ecopetrol announced its first hydrocarbon discovery of the year at the Pastinaca-1 well, also in Meta department. Ecopetrol said that preliminary drilling at Pastinaca-1 produced 202bpd; and that this served as further confirmation of the still untapped oil-producing potential of the Llanos Orientales, from which 55% of Colombia’s oil is currently being extracted. Importantly Ecopetrol also pointed out that the Pastinaca-1 well was part of a concession contract (CPO) which was exclusively awarded to Ecopetrol by Colombia’s national hydrocarbon agency (ANH) in 2008. This means that the state-owned company is the sole operator and thus set to reap its full benefits.
The encouraging Pastinaca-1 discovery has been quickly followed by another in the adjacent CPO area at the Venus-2 well. According to Ecopetrol preliminary drilling at Venus-2 has produced 630bpd, suggesting that this well could be even more productive than Pastinaca-1.
In order to continue with its exploration efforts and to successfully exploit its newfound wells in the Llanos Orientales, it is clear that Ecopetrol will have to raise funds to invest. Luckily for the firm there are signs that it will not encounter many difficulties in achieving this. On 26 March Ecopetrol announced that it had successfully concluded the negotiation of a US$847m credit line form the US’s Export-Import Bank and four other international banks: JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Corporate Bank; which will be “exclusively used to pay for goods and services contracted from suppliers from the US”.
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