MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia strikes new oil well; production in March averaging 884.000 bpd

Ecopetrol President Javier Gutierrez has a goal of 1.45 million bpd by 2013

Colombia’s state-run petroleum company Ecopetrol announced the results of testing from an oil well in the south of the country with initial findings showing production levels to average 92 barrels of oil a day reported the Bogotá press.

The 7,371 ft Nunda-1 well in the Tello municipality of the department of Huila, was first drilled on 27 January 2011. Initial tests had a flow of 318 barrels of fluid a day, 71% of which was water, corresponding to an average of 92 bpd.

The well is part of the Cuisinde Exploration and Exploitation Agreement signed between Ecopetrol and the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) in 2006. Ecopetrol has 100% participation in the project.

In the coming weeks Ecopetrol will begin the phase of evaluating the discovery which involves extensive testing with the aim of determining the full production potential and the volume of recoverable hydrocarbons.

Ecopetrol President Javier Gutierrez said in March that his company is on track to produce 1.45 million bpd by 2013.

According to the latest official information Colombian oil production in March reached 884,000 barrels per day, ip 15% from the same month the previous year.

Ecopetrol and associates extracted 786,000 bpd, while the contracts administered by the firm ANH exceeded 98,000 bpd. On average Colombia has produced 860,000 barrels of crude oil daily so far in the first quarter of 2011.

Colombia, which depends on Mexican Gulf Coast refiners to buy and refine most of its heavy, sulfur-laden crude, now ranks 10th among the exporters of oil to the U.S. It shipped an average of 365,000 bpd stateside last year.