By James Wilson in Bogota Published: September 29 2000 23:45GMT | Last Updated: September 29 2000 23:51GMT Colombia's oil industry received a shot in the arm on Friday when 13 exploration and production contracts were signed with foreign and domestic investors. The contracts will lead to around $620m of investment over the next six years, according to Alberto Calderon, president of Ecopetrol, the state-owned oil company, which will take a share of the extra oil production. Talisman Energy and Alberta Energy, two Canadian companies, were among the winning bidders, along with Cepsa of Spain and Texas Star Oil and Gas of the US. Colombia has struggled over the past decade to attract fresh investment in its oil sector, prompting fears that the country would become a net oil importer by 2003, but has reawakened interest this year by sweetening contract terms for investors. Mr Calderon said the fresh investment in production should keep Colombia self-sufficient until around 2007. He added the bidding round, over nine months, was the most successful Colombia had carried out. Oil is Colombia's largest foreign exchange earner and exports were worth around $2.2bn in the first half of the year. Colombia hopes to be producing around 1m barrels a day by 2010, from the present 730,000 barrels daily. The new contracts are expected to contribute around 100,000 barrels per day towards the 1m target. Foreign investors have been wary because the oil sector, whose companies often operate in isolated areas, is a frequent target of leftwing guerrillas in long-running conflict with the government. The pipeline that pumps crude from fields operated by Occidental, the US company, has been bombed more than 60 times this year. _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
