Good potential, high hopes

Colombia has high hopes that a surge in exploration interest among foreign operators will help the country transform its upstream industry, writes Tom Nicholls

AFTER 15 years that have failed to yield the large discoveries needed to reverse the parlous slide in Colombian oil output, the country's upstream prospects may be about to change. Increasing numbers of explorers are setting up offices in Bogotá, attracted by better upstream licensing terms, and the improved economic and political environment that President Alvaro Uribe has established since coming to power three years ago. According to Armando Zamora, director of Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH), the newly formed upstream regulator, there have been 60 exploration-licence awards in just over a year and the agency is now receiving about 10 applications a month. That compares with an av