Ecopetrol calls for bids on marginal fields

Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol has launched its second international tender for 10-year contracts to develop 13 fields that are either undeveloped or inactive, the company said in a statement. Estimated reserves for each field are between 300,000b and 1 million barrels, Ecopetrol sources told BNamericas. Each marginal field is expected to require US$300,000-2mn to explore, putting total investment in the bidding round at as much as US$26mn, government news service SNE reported. Nine of the fields are in the upper Magdalena valley, one is in the lower Magdalena and the remaining two are in the Catatumbo basin, company sources said. The government will apply a marginal field royalty of 8% for production of up to 5,000 barrels a day (b/d), gradually increasing with output over that amount. Five of the 13 fields are currently in production, the sources added. Ecopetrol will not award more than two fields to any one company although a company can bid on the number of fields that it wishes, the sources said, adding that the bids must be prioritized. Participation of third parties is forbidden until after the second year, Ecopetrol said in its statement. The tender is part of the government's goal of maintaining oil self-sufficiency until at least 2009, SNE said. Colombia is predicted to produce an average of 502,000b/d of oil this year, down from 584,000b/d in 2002, newspaper La República reported.