Chevron sets incremental Colombia gas output deal

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.20.03, 8:43 PM ET Latin America  Natural Gas   SAN RAMON, Calif., Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. oil major ChevronTexaco (nyse: CVX - news - people) on Thursday said its Colombian subsidiary signed an agreement with Ecopetrol, the Colombian national oil company, to produce natural gas from the Guajira region in the country's northeastern coast. The agreement for the Catalina Project, signed on Feb. 8, provides the basis for the country's natural gas supply and distribution through 2016, the San Ramon, California-based company said in a statement. Texas Petroleum Co., Chevron's Colombian unit, and Ecopetrol currently produce more than 80 percent of the natural gas consumed in Colombia. The gas comes from Chuchupa, the country's only offshore field, and Ballena, an onshore field located in Guajira State, which together produce on average 500 million cubic feet of gas a day. The new agreement will enable both companies to develop and produce an additional one trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves that are still in the area, according to ChevronTexaco. The company said gas produced from Catalina will be distributed mainly in the northern and central regions of Colombia. Gas may also eventually be exported to Venezuela if a gas pipeline project under study by both countries demonstrates the feasibility of connecting the gas producing fields of Guajira with the Maracaibo region of Venezuela.