The last year has been rough for Colombia’s economically vital petroleum industry. Toward the end of 2019 and at the start of 2020 government and industry bodies were expecting a strong 2020 for the country’s hydrocarbon sector. The Andean country’s peak industry body the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP – Spanish initials) initially anticipated a notable 23% year over year increase in investment to just shy of $5 billion. It was anticipated that would lead to an average daily production during 2020 of 890,000 barrels daily. Despite this optimism, exploration and production activity collapsed due to the twin-impact of the country’s COVID-19 lockdown and sharply weaker oil prices. By May 2020 Colombia’s oil production had fallen off a cliff plunging to a multi-year low of 742,000 barrels daily. Natural gas output also declined, dropping to a low of 827 million cubic feet daily during April and then rising slightly to […]