The Conference was a big success bringing together CEOs of oil & gas companies, projects initiators, EPCs, investors, equipment and service providers, governments representatives, and other influencers from Colombia and the Latin American hydrocarbons industry. 

The programme consisted of two-days of presentations, discussions, business meetings and networking. 40+ speakers presented the path of the industry towards the energy transition and were involved in discussions about innovation, regulations, and the operational challenges the industry is facing nowadays.

The Opening Session of the congress started with a panel in which the speakers discussed the role of the hydrocarbon sector in the energy transition era. Mentioning the government policies and company’sstrategies to attract international investors towards a greener oil and gas industry. Maria Helena Suarez,
Senior Management Professional of the Barrancabermeja Refinery - Ecopetrol leaded the speakers of this session that were Felipe González Penagos, Director of Hydrocarbons of the Ministry of Mines and Energy Colombia; Lyndon Jay Huffington, Researcher and coordinator at the Observatory on Energy Transition from the Externado University of Colombia; Carlos Guillermo García Londoño, General Manager of Ecopetrol´s Barrancabermeja Refinery and Mario Fernando Zamora Santacruz, CEO of Mompos Oil Company. The encounter opened the conversation on the regulatory aspects that production companies and investors must consider in order to achieve a fair, sustainable and responsible transition towards the goal of being a carbon-
free industry with a mayor implementation of clean energy sources. 

The newest technologies for oil and gas projects were presented by leading companies of the industry like Hexagon Asset Lifecycle Intelligence, Eurohinca, Geopark Colombia, Rotork and the Latin American Society of Maritime Oil Terminal Operators and Monobuoys - SLOM during the second session of the event. In this case Nestor Lopez, Executive Sales Director from Hexagon Asset Lifecycle Intelligence moderated the session between Andrés Szlufik, Senior Industry Consultant of the same company who presented operational risk management in an industrial plant and the optimization of engineering processes.
Samuel Hermida Formoso, Eurohinca-Latam Manager who talked about tunnel excavation with MTBM for Oil & Gas transportation.

Jorge Fabian Otavo Parrado, Digital Project Leader (Exploration – Production - Facilities) from Geopark Colombia, explained the data science applied to the oil & gas industry. Edsson Neyl Estupiñán Niño, Independent consultant and Digital Transformation Manager, presented the exponential transformation. Abel E Gutierrez De Piñeres L., Sales Manager from Rotork talked about the intelligent drives as the key to the digital transformation of valves and Francisco Antonio Barreto Padilha, President of the Latin American Society of Maritime Oil Terminal Operators and Monobuoys – SLOM with his presentation on the
digital transformation in safe operations in maritime terminals.

Following, Walter Fabian Canova, Vice President of Refining and Industrial Processes from Ecopetrol, moderated the third session where he began by presenting the status of the most auspicious oil and gas projects in Colombia; (pic 5) Boris Villa Gallo, Colombian Director of Gas Energy Latin America; Elsa Jeanneth Jaimes Romero, Exploration Vice President from Ecopetrol; (pic 6) Marggy Liliana Santos Loza, Head of Production Scheduling Department of the Barrancabermeja Refinery - Ecopetrol; German Casas Torres and Wilger Yamile Wilches Novoa, President and Project Manager of the Colombian Sebastopol Refinery. This session delved into the challenges for the development of natural gas in the country; the Ecopetrol business group exploration in the Colombian Caribbean with its New Realities and Opportunities; the 2040 Strategy for the Downstream Segment from Ecopetrol as well; the Fuel Quality Baseline Project from the Barrancabermeja Refinery and the Colombian Sebastopol Refinery and Green Hydrogen Plant project.

The session “Progress and Challenges in the LNG and Hydrogen Industry” was the last one of the first day of the congress and Daniel Umaña, CEO of DUE Capital and Services SAS introduced Mónica Gasca Rojas, Executive Director of the Colombian Hydrogen Association who presented the Colombia´s Hydrogen roadmap, from planning to implementation; Karen Peralta Ballen, Executive Director from the ANDI Naturgas Hydrogen Chamber, talked about the hydrogen as a Colombian strategy for decarbonization; Jorge Escalante, Innovation Manager of Transportadora de Gas Internacional S.A. ESP explained the role of hydrogen in the transition to a decarbonized economy; Rodrigo Dalle Fiore, New Energies Manager from Ecopetrol presented the hydrogen strategy of the Ecopetrol Group as an Impulse towards the energy transition of Colombia along with Nelson Fernando Angulo Pedrozo, Production Manager of the
Barrancabermeja Refinery – Ecopetrol who shared information on their low emission hydrogen gasification and production project and finally Daniel Umaña involved the speakers into a conversation to face the question if the hydrogen and other clean energy sources would really mean a transition or would be part of an energetic complementarity.

The first day was closed with a successful networking session during the welcome cocktail where the attendees had the opportunity to fully enjoy the exhibition area. 

A fifth session focused on recent gas reserve discoveries and future explorations started the second day of the congress. Gabriel Veloza, Exploration Manager Northern Colombia from HOCOL conducted the session between Jürgen Loeber, Antonio Velasquez, Camilo Andrés López Novoa, Offshore Vice President, Offshore Exploration Manager and Head of Financial Department for Gas, LPG and Energy from Ecopetrol; Jorge Eliécer Durán Fandiño, Regulation Manager from Naturgas and Antero Alvarado, Partner Director of Gas Energy Latin America. They presented the Offshore in Colombia; lessons learned and challenges from offshore exploration in the country; financial and economic challenges of gas and the Colombian offshore; opportunities of natural gas in Colombia and the gas availability from Venezuela correspondingly. 

Continuing with the programme, the sixth session named Towards a Profitable Greener Industry was focused on cost-effective strategies to achieve a more sustainable hydrocarbon industry. Paula Andrea Mazo Obando, Performance, Transformation & ITS senior Manager from Frontera Energy moderated the panel between Juan Bernal, General Manager of Varosa Energy who presented the roadmap to zero net emissions; Angela María Rodríguez Bernal, RSE Manager of Parex Resources talked about sustainability in the oil and gas sector; Diana Giraldo, Director of Operations and Asset Management of the Oleoducto Central S.A. – Ocensa with an explanation of the decarbonization strategy of the operation in OCENSA and Katherine Orozco, Low-Carbon Hydrogen Project Leader from Ecopetrol closed with an analysis of hydrogen as a key component for decarbonization. 

The afternoon started with different analysis of the operational continuity amid the new energy landscape in Colombia. Patricia Lagos Salinas, Relationship Manager with Partners, Institutions and Communities from Repsol Colombia explained the challenges of the development of mining-energy projects in the regulatory framework and country context. Maria de la Paz García, Director of Sustainable Social Development of Sierracol Energy presented the “Energy sector: the transition to much more participatory environments” and César Augusto Quiroz Rincón, Assurance Quality and Safety Manager, Transportadora de
Gas Internacional S.A. ESP deepened on the Teas shutdown procedure, within the framework of the decarbonization route. This session concluded with a debate leaded by Alejandro Martínez, President of the Colombian LPG Association - GASNOVA about the challenges to accomplish the goal to build a sustainable future for the hydrocarbon industry.

To close the event, a discussion about strategies to increase national reservoirs was led by Loren Moss, Executive Editor of Finance Colombia who guided the panel between Daniel Andres Sossa Tellez, Communications Secretary of the USO and delegate from the National Petroleum Institute; Ana María
Villegas Ramírez, Hydrocarbons Group Coordinator of the National Authority for Environmental Licenses; Juan Felipe Neira Castro, Lecturer and Researcher, Energy Mining Law Department, Externado University of Colombia and himself. These industry leaders touched on the current debates on hydrocarbon production and energy transition, and what elements of energy policy and what actions should be implemented to increase hydrocarbon reservoirs in Colombia. 

By the end of this successful congress, 150+ meetings had taken place, leading to constructive negotiations between the participants. The business meetings and networking allowed the delegates to not only exchange opinions on a wide range of pressing topics, but also to develop effective solutions, which
will shape the long-term future of the oil and gas industry in Colombia and Latin America. 

The 6 th International Congress and Exhibition “Colombia Oil & Gas” will be held on July of 2024.We will be happy to welcome you at this prominent hydrocarbon event relevant for the whole region!