Canacol Energy will make more investments in 2025, but will have less availability of natural gas

Canadian company Canacol Energy has announced that its investment budget for 2025 will increase to a range between 143 million and 160 million dollars. Last year's investments were estimated at 123 million dollars.

The company also expects average realized contracted sales of natural gas and oil for 2025, including downtime, to range from 146 to 159 million cubic feet equivalent per day (mcfd).

Of this total, the volumes of natural gas that will be available for sale are estimated at between 140 and 153 million cubic feet per day (mcfd). This is expected to decrease from 157 mcfd in 2024.

The volumes of oil available for sale are also expected to decline, from 1,402 to 1,050 barrels per day in 2025.

According to Charle Gamba, President and CEO of Canacol Energy, this year the company will focus on maintaining and increasing the reserves and production base in the main assets in the Lower Magdalena Valley basin, maximizing the use of the existing transportation infrastructure.

In addition, it will explore natural gas opportunities with greater impact in the Lower and Middle Magdalena Valley basins, and will lay the groundwork to begin operations in Bolivia in 2026.

In line with maintaining and increasing reserves and production in the main gas assets in the Lower Magdalena Valley Basin, Canacol Energy plans to optimize its production and increase reserves by drilling up to 11 exploratory wells and three development wells.

In addition to installing new compression and processing infrastructure as needed, and performing workover work on producing wells in major natural gas fields.

The development wells to be drilled by Canacol Energy include Clarinete-11, Siku-2 and Lulo-3, all of which have already been successfully drilled and are in the production stage.

Meanwhile, the exploratory drilling plan includes 10 exploratory gas wells in the Lower Magdalena Valley Basin (VIM) and one exploratory gas and condensate well in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin (VMM).

Among the most notable exploratory wells in the VIM is the continuation of operations at Natilla-2 ST2, where a gross section of approximately 550 feet TVD of interbedded sandstones and shales was encountered within the Porquero Formation.

Other notable exploration wells include Ramsay-1, which is targeting a large four-way closed-in structure within the Ciénaga de Oro (CDO) sandstone reservoir, located near the Nelson field, and which the company plans to drill in the second quarter.

Also of note is a group of three exploratory wells (Zamia, Borbón and Monstera), targeting three different prospects within the CDO reservoir, located near the Níspero gas field, with the drilling of the first planned for early Q2.

While a discovery at Natilla will require approximately nine months to bring into production due to the need to construct a 15-kilometre flowline, the Ramsay, Zamia, Borbón and Monstera wells can be brought into production quickly if successful, given their proximity to existing flowlines.

The remaining five exploratory wells are targeting smaller structures close to existing infrastructure, which will allow for rapid commercialization if successful.

In recent years, Canacol Energy has consolidated a significant position in the VMM and this year plans to drill the Valiente prospect, which targets a large shallow structure located approximately five kilometres south and upstream of the Opón gas field, discovered in 1965 by Cities Services and subsequently developed by Amoco in 1997.

The Valiente-1 well is scheduled to be drilled early in the fourth quarter and will target the same productive sandstones in the La Paz Formation that were productive at Opón, but at considerably shallower depths.

Canacol Energy is also continuing its efforts in relation to the Pola exploration project, located in the VMM. Given the relatively high well cost, the company is currently evaluating its options on how to proceed with the project.