MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gas and oil discovery in Colombia.

A field with large reserves of natural gas and smaller quantities of oil was discovered by Colombia's government oil company Ecopetrol in an area abandoned by the US company Occidental, announced Colombian Mines and Energy minister Luis Ernesto Mejía.

The Gibraltar field 360 kilometers northeast of the capital Bogotá has a natural gas production capacity of 150 million cubic feet per day during 12 years and sufficient high quality oil reserves equivalent to 15 million barrels.

"The most important factor is that the presence of hydrocarbons in Colombia has been proved beyond any doubt and secondly it ratifies the existence of a new frontier province where Colombia can begin to revert its difficult energy situation", said Mr. Mejía.

Although the country is known to have vast reserves of oil and gas, its daily production in 1999 was 800,000 barrels which now has dropped to 520,000 barrels and "at this rate we would be importing oil in two years time".

"What we've found in Gibraltar won't solve our oil problem but it's opened us a field which must hold far more reserves", stressed the Colombian minister.

"It's the major discovery of Ecopetrol in half a century".

A year ago Occidental left the Gibraltar area after having unsuccessfully invested 60 million US dollars. However Ecopetrol insisted and ploughed in an additional 30 million US dollars which proved Colombian geologists and experts were right.