Canacol taking wait-and-watch approach to Venezuela

Natural gas producer Canacol will not rush to enter Venezuela's hydrocarbons sector after the US partially lifted sanctions on the South American country, executives said on Friday. 

The comments came as Canacol announced plans to enter Bolivia's upstream gas segment, part of a broader strategy to diversify its Colombia-focused asset portfolio. 

"We've looked at most of the onshore gas-prone basins in South America, including Venezuela," Canacol CEO Charle Gamba told investors in a conference call. 

"One of the criteria that we used was contractual stability and a benign operating environment. Unfortunately, Venezuela does not fit that bill at the moment."

Washington rolled back a series of restrictions on Venezuela – mostly related to the oil and gas industry – late on Wednesday after Nicolás Maduro's regime reached an agreement with opposition parties to allow a competitive, internationally monitored election next year.

The most significant concession was a general license issued by the US Treasury Department allowing Venezuela to produce and export oil without restrictions for the next six months. 

"The [US] waiver provided this week was for six months, at which point it will be reviewed," Gamba said.

"There is still a fair bit of uncertainty with respect to contractual stability in Venezuela for us, which prevents us from looking at it very seriously at the moment. But if that changes, that certainly could be an avenue to pursue."

Olivier Le Peuch, the CEO of oilfield services company SLB, said on Friday that the firm would "be responding as fast as we can" to demand from oil and gas field operators in Venezuela.