Ecopetrol and Braspetro sign contract for Tafura block
Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol signed an association contract on December 31 with Braspetro, the
international operations subsidiary of Brazil's federal energy company Petrobras, for the 35,233-hectare Tafura block
in the upper Magdalena Valley, a source in Ecopetrol's oil contracts division told.
Under the terms of standard Ecopetrol association contracts, Braspetro receives exploration rights for 3-6 years, and
production rights for 22 years. The contract is the sixth exploration and production contract signed by Ecopetrol
since October, and brings the latest round of signings to an end since there are no other such contracts currently
under negotiation, the source said.
Since October, US-based Mercantile Oil & Gas and Canada's Nexen signed for the Ambrosia and Andino blocks
respectively in the upper Magdalena Valley basin, the US' Occidental and Colombian oil company Petrotesting signed
for the Cosecha and Menegua blocks respectively in the Llanos basin, and US independent Llanos Oil took on the
Guatapuri block in the Cesar Rancheria basin.
The contracts are part of a drive by Ecopetrol to increase Colombia's oil reserves by 1 bn barrels over the next four
years and stem a decline in reserves that threatens to make it a net oil importer by 2004.
