Helping Chinese roots push into Colombian resources

Charle Gamba began his career in the oil and gas sector as a geologist with Imperial Oil in Calgary, Canada in 1994.

With nearly two decades of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry, he held two top management positions, including vice- president of exploration at Occidental Oil and Gas in Bogota, before establishing Canacol Energy in 2008.

Colombia’s receptive business environment and appetite for Canadian investment made the country an obvious choice for Gamba. “I wanted to build an exploration and production company in Colombia,” he recalled.

“The country has a traditionally stable contractual system, and royalty contracts in Colombia became one of the most attractive in the world in 2003. The government really cracked down on traffickers to elevate the security system, so the investment climate improved considerably.”

Canacol Energy is an international oil and gas company with operations focused on Colombia and Ecuador. Publicly listed on the Toronto and Colombian stock exchanges, it currently has seven producing oil and gas fields that produce over 9,000 barrels a day, with 33 million barrels in proven and probable reserves.

“We currently have 26 exploration contracts with another 200 prospects to drill in the next four to five years,” Gamba explained.

“We put together a company with a large and diverse portfolio of oil and gas-producing assets, and a large exploration inventory of conventional and unconventional oil prospects.”

Canacol’s three main business segments include conventional light- oil exploration, conventional heavy-oil exploration and non-conventional shale-oil exploration.

“We made a very important discovery that we are now developing with Sinochem in conventional heavy oil — which will get to peak production of 70,000 barrels a day,” he continued.

“In non-conventional shale oil, we are very well- positioned in the Middle Magdalena Valley, with 1.67 million hectares yet to explore.

“We also work with major petroleum companies like ConocoPhillips, Shell and ExxonMobil, who bring their expertise and apply it to our blocks to help commercialize this type of resource,” he added.

“We have a sufficiently large portfolio, and the plan is to execute our way through this portfolio,” Gamba said, adding that “we are looking to end this year producing up to 11,000 barrels per day. By 2015, we want to produce as much as 15,000 barrels a day”.

China, with the largest potential reserve for shale oil, can use Colombia’s expertise in this specialized sector by acquiring its technology and know-how, Gamba said.

“It’s a very good time to get into the Colombian upstream exploration and production business, seeing as you get the most value per dollar invested by tapping into the opportunities currently present in upstream oil and gas,” he stressed.

“China is an emerging international power and is important to the oil industry,” Gamba said. “Canacol has an extensive portfolio and is large enough to be an ideal partner for Chinese national oil companies looking to invest in South America.”

Gamba said the company has a proven track record that inspires faith among its customers. “We look forward to helping more Chinese companies establish deeper roots in the region.”

www.canacolenergy.com