Incremental gas output from Venezuela offshore project to be sent to Colombia, PDVSA says

‌About 65 million cubic feet per day of incremental gas production expected at Venezuela's Perla offshore project will be exported to Colombia via a pipeline currently in repair, the head of Venezuelan state-run PDVSA, Hector Obregon, ‌said on Friday. The plan is part of a recently signed agreement to secure initial gas ‌supplies to send to neighboring Colombia, which is increasingly needing gas for domestic use, Obregon said at a conference in Caracas.

Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni, which operate the Perla project, had said earlier this year that the output increase to ⁠a total ​645 million cubic feet ⁠per day would be available by the first quarter of 2028. As part of a Washington-backed reconstruction plan, Venezuela is trying ⁠to revive its gas industry, whose output is currently insufficient to secure enough electricity generation. The deficit has ​for years contributed to power outages and rationing.

The incremental gas production, from onshore and offshore projects, ⁠is expected to be enough to solve the domestic deficit and inaugurate exports. The chief executive of Colombia's energy producer Ecopetrol , ⁠Joaquin ​Gutierrez, said during a corporate earnings call on Friday that securing supplies through the gas pipeline connecting both countries is among its priorities.

"We will ask PDVSA to be granted operationship ⁠on Colombia's 88-kilometer segment and are negotiating a 10-year sale-purchase agreement at a very competitive price," he said. Venezuela's ⁠oil ministry did ⁠not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The 225-kilometer pipeline, built by PDVSA and inaugurated in 2007, has remained idle in recent years and needs ‌repairs for its ‌reopening.