Exploration drilling in Colombia’s oil patch in the first quarter fell 82.5% compared with the year-ago period, while seismic exploration sank by an even steeper 92%, the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) said Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference in Bogota, ACP president Francisco Jose Lloreda issued another in a series of recent appeals to the government to enhance the royalty and tax incentives available to wildcatters or face the possibility of declining production and reserves in coming years. “Without tax incentives, it will not be feasible to reactivate exploration and current production levels of 1 million b/d, which would impact state revenue even more,” Lloreda told reporters. He said only nine exploratory wells were drilled in Q1, down from 52 drilled in the year-ago period. Seismic exploration totaled 800 square kilometers, down from 10,000 sq km. Lloreda acknowledged that the Colombian government had made some moves in recent months […]