2024-08-08 00:22:48
The political situation in Venezuela is not the best to start importing in 2025, said the Minister of Mines and Energy, Andrés Camacho Morales.
HUILA DAILY, CURRENT NEWS
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Andrés Camacho Morales, ruled out the possibility of importing gas from Venezuela starting in 2025 due to the political situation in the neighboring country. During his speech in the House of Representatives, he explained that, after the presidential elections, in which Nicolás Maduro is suspected of having committed fraud to defeat the opposition candidate Edmundo González, there are no political, technical or financial conditions, in addition to the sanctions imposed on Venezuela.
Camacho Morales pointed out that previous ideological decisions have led to the loss of essential infrastructure, such as the gas pipeline that was built, of which two kilometers are damaged. Therefore, there is currently no possibility of importing gas. “The gas pipeline that had been built was lost. Nearly two kilometers of the pipeline were damaged, they were lost. And today, in practice, there is no possibility of importing,” the minister stressed.
The minister clarified that, despite rumors, the importation of gas from Venezuela is not a fact. He explained that the Natural Gas Supply Plan is being developed through the Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (Creg), which issued a resolution on infrastructure while the minister was appearing. This resolution regulates the development of infrastructure to guarantee the supply and security of natural gas in Colombia, updating the regulations and approving income to improve the infrastructure and adjust the remuneration methodology for gas transportation.
Approved infrastructure works
The CREG established income to remunerate the infrastructure works of the Natural Gas Supply Plan. Among the notable works are the expansion of the Mariquita – Gualanday section (CREG Resolution 502 061 of 2024), the Jamundí – Valle del Cauca branch (CREG Resolution 502 063 of 2024) and the Barrancabermeja – Ballena bidirectional work (CREG Resolution 502 062 of 2024), all in charge of TGI, increasing the transport capacity by 123 million cubic feet per day.
In addition, TGI has already expressed its irrevocable will to execute these projects. “The CREG also approved the revenue streams for the interconnection between the coastal and inland gas transportation systems (CREG Resolution 502 064 of 2024). For this project, the company Promigas has already expressed its irrevocable will to execute it. In addition, the revenue stream for the expansion of the bidirectional capacity between Barranquilla and Ballena was approved. In this case, Promigas is still pending to express its irrevocable will to execute the project. These plans increase the transportation capacity by 170 million cubic feet per day (mcfd),” he reported.
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Other regulatory advances of the Creg
In addition, the CREG adjusted the remuneration methodology for gas transportation (CREG Resolution 175 of 2021) through CREG Resolution 102 008 of 2024. The adjustment seeks to avoid premature replacement of infrastructure. With these changes, the entity will continue approving charges that are efficient for natural gas transportation systems in Colombia and incentivizing investment.
Taking into account the lessons learned from the approval processes for the Gas Supply Plan projects, the CREG proposed adjustments to future procedures to make them more agile and aligned with the requirements of the system planner, which is the Mining-Energy Planning Unit (UPME). The adjustments were established by CREG Resolution 702 008 of 2024.
Regarding the projects proposed by Upme in the technical study for the adoption of the Natural Gas Supply Plan 2023-2038, once they are approved by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the regulations defined by the commission will be applied to them.
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