Ecopetrol postpones drilling of the Komodo well again due to persistent ANLA demands that make it unviable.

The National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) responded to the appeal filed by Ecopetrol and Anadarko a few months ago regarding the conditions it had imposed for the drilling of the Komodo well.

Despite ANLA's response, Ecopetrol's general manager of Offshore and Exploration, Elsa Jaimes, stated that the viability of drilling this well in the ultra-deep waters of the Caribbean Sea continues to be affected.

"While some adjustments were made and recognized within the resource, there are others that remain. This requires us to continue analyzing the feasibility of drilling the well," he said.

Therefore, the schedule Ecopetrol and Anadarko had set to begin drilling Komodo in late 2025 and complete it in early 2026 will definitely not be achieved.

"The requirements that remain in the environmental license require us to make adjustments , and we don't have enough time to drill the well in the 2025-2026 timeframe," explained Elsa Jaimes.

He also noted that the companies continue to carefully analyze the operational and legal requirements issued by ANLA in order to review whether the Komodo drilling can be carried out in the next time window.

"In that area (of the Caribbean Sea), the waves and weather conditions are safer for work toward the end of the year and the beginning of the next, that is, October, November, December, and January. Going outside that time window poses additional safety risks," he said.

The Komodo well is located in ultra-deep waters of the Colombian Caribbean Sea, which means it has a depth of approximately four kilometers to locate the offshore base and begin drilling.

The seismic and geological studies that have been conducted in advance of this well suggest that Komodo could result in a larger discovery than Sirius, as it would be an extension of the potential found in Guyana.

Furthermore, there was a high probability of finding oil in this well. What's new is that, to date, all discoveries in the Caribbean Sea have been of natural gas.

However, this project was suspended in September 2024 because ANLA delayed issuing the environmental license that would allow the drilling of the well, which was scheduled for November of that year.