ChevronTexaco unit signs production deal in Colombia

eastbay.bizjournals.com 10:40 AM PST Friday 

San Ramon-based ChevronTexaco said its Colombia subsidiary, Texas Petroleum Co., and Ecopetrol, a Colombian national oil company, have signed an agreement for incremental gas production from the Guajira region in the northeastern coastal region of the country.

The agreement for the Catalina Project provides the basis for Columbia's natural gas supply and distribution through 2016. Texas Petroleum 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 in Guajira State.

Together, these fields produce on average 500 million cubic feet of gas a day. The new agreement will enable both companies to develop and produce an additional 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves that are still in the area.

The gas produced from Catalina will be distributed mainly in the northern and central regions of the country. 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.