Oil/News
Ecopetrol scouts Venezuela oil opportunities at Caracas congress
Under new president Joaquín Gutiérrez Caballero, Colombia’s state oil firm is at the International Oil and Gas Congress in Caracas to map hydrocarbon prospects. It says any activity would stay within U.S. OFAC licenses and has announced no deal with PDVSA.
Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol is taking part in the International Oil and Gas Congress in Caracas to identify hydrocarbon business opportunities in Venezuela under its new president, Joaquín Gutiérrez Caballero.
The company frames the visit as a relationship-building agenda within a new management phase focused on strengthening its hydrocarbons business. Ecopetrol said the trip is meant to map possible ventures, share industry experience and review growth outlooks for the regional energy sector.
Ecopetrol described Venezuela as an attractive market for energy companies because of the size of its resource base and the development potential linked to oil and gas.
The firm said it completed due diligence and risk reviews and set protocols so that work in Venezuela would stay inside authorizations under general licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and within applicable Colombian and international rules.
Ecopetrol has not announced a contract, investment, project or concrete agreement with Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA or other counterparts. The Caracas schedule has been presented as engagement and a search for options, not a finished commercial deal.
Gutiérrez recently took over as Ecopetrol president, and the congress ranks among the first public steps of his tenure. No specific assets, partners or investment amounts under study have been disclosed.
