ANH to re-tender Tello, La Jagua fields in 2006

Colombia's hydrocarbons regulator ANH will re-tender the Tello and La Jagua fields in the Upper Magdalena Valley after the current concession expires in February next year, ANH said in a statement. Hocol, the local subsidiary of Nimir Petroleum Limited, is the present concessionaire and in October 2004 asked for an extension to its permit. ANH rejected the request and recommended that the license areas be put out to competitive tender. "It's not that the offer [Hocol presented] wasn't good, but it's preferable to open up the operator possibility on this concession to other companies that could submit offers in order to choose the best one," newspaper Diario del Huila quoted ANH director Armando Zamora as saying. Hocol will be invited to bid. The 11,250-hectare Tello field is located in Neiva department and produces an average of some 10,800 barrels a day, the paper said, adding that the contract was awarded in 1971. The new license contract will stipulate continued exploration for the identification of new reserves on the site and it will increase royalty payments by 12% to 26.5%, Zamora said.