Open Round Colombia 2010

On the 22 June in Cartagena, the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) made 168 blocks available for bidding as part of the 'Open Round Colombia' bidding process. The process of awarding production and exploration rights was competed on the 12 May 2011.

The number of blocks available eventually increased to 229, covering a total acreage of 476,650 square kilometres.

Following the pre-qualification phase, the ANH finalized a list of 73 companies who were authorised to submit an offer. These companies were divided into the following categories depending on their capacities:


 * Operators: 49 companies with proven capacity juridical, financial, operational, environmental and social responsibility qualified to be operators at fields.
 * Non-operators: 4 companies limited to participating in a consortium with qualified operators.
 * Restricted operators: 20 companies restricted to operate Block 1 type only (see below).
 * Non-qualified: 8 companies did not qualify to submit offers.

= Types of Contract =

The blocks on offer were divided into three types:


 * Type 1: E&P Mini-round.

138 onshore blocks in mature basins, available for Exploration and Production (E&P) contracts.
 * Type 2: E&P New Prospective Basin.

31 onshore and offshore blocks in new, prospective basins, also available for E&P contracts.


 * Type 3: Technical Evaluation Agreement (TEA).

63 short-term contracts allowing frontier areas to be evaluated for prospectivity without committing explorers to expensive drilling programmes.

= Results =

On completion of Open Round Colombia, 68 contracts had been signed with 27 companies designated as operator or licensee.

Ecopetrol won eight blocks (seven as operator), six of which were located in the Llanos basin. Canadian companies were also prominent in the bidding round, with Meta Petroleum becoming operator of 6 blocks and two TEA contracts. Gran Tierra won two TEA blocks and one E&P contract, and six blocks were awarded to Alange Energy Corporation. Of the large international companies who qualified, Shell won one TEA contract and one E&P onshore license in the Middle Magdalena Valley, and Brazilian independent OGX was another key company, winning five licenses.

The complete results can be seen in the table below:

=References=