Alvaro Uribe remembers when Venezuela did not comply with Colombia by importing gas

After the controversy caused by the country’s possible import of natural gas from Venezuela, former President Alvaro Uribe Velez highlighted the dangers of energy dependence and recalled when the neighboring country was unable to comply with the gas export agreement to Colombia.

The former president posted on his Twitter account his opinion on the proposal of Irene Velez, the new Minister of Mines and Energy, who ended up stressing that importing gas from Venezuela “is not a priority for the government.”

The new government announced that it will not allocate new gas and/or oil contracts. In addition, pilot or pilot projects of . will be cancelled cracking And that they will bring gas from Venezuela,” the former president wrote.

According to Uribe, the consequence of this is that Colombia will lose its energy self-sufficiency, “which is currently ensured thanks to a combination of renewable and conventional energies”. The former president also stressed that there are export surpluses in turn “in line” with the goal of reducing the country’s emissions.

“As for getting gas from Venezuela, there are lights that don’t shine and shadows that are too big,” the former president said.

Uribe emphasized that despite the fact that Venezuela has more gas reserves than Colombia, “the reality is not easy.”

When we signed with President Chavez the contract to sell gas to Venezuela, the biggest consideration was the supply to Colombia after 2012. That didn’t happen. We do not know the number of reasons, but it is clear that there are certain problems with gas pipelines and well sites,” the former president explained.

As the former president recalls, after supplying natural gas from Colombia to Venezuela for nearly seven years, the neighboring country owes millions of cubic feet of fuel that it hasn’t delivered since 2016, the date both countries set for the return of natural gas. resources.

In fact, most of Venezuela’s reserves are located in the east of the country and it seems that there is no infrastructure to bring them to the west, on the border with Colombia. “There is a tiny fraction in the Gulf, and they say it’s five or five terabytes, where they can provide Colombia with reasonable prices for our users,” the former president said.

Despite this, according to Uribe, “There is also no gas pipeline to connect with the one in La Guajira, which they stopped using in 2015, and this has nothing to do with the one that transports gas to the Caribbean and to the interior of our country.”

“If these obstacles are resolved, it will be more of an illusion than reality, the gas supplies from western Venezuela will only be enough to be a palliative for the times of difficulty in Colombia, such as the El Niño summer, which is expected in two years.” Uribe added.

He also highlighted the work of the government of former President Ivan Duque, both in the field of energy transition and in ensuring the independence of Colombia in this regard.

He stressed that “the Duque government has signed 70 contracts for exploration that include expenditures close to four billion dollars, which is remarkable because the state has not reached any contracts without an excuse, prices in long-term activities are very acceptable.”

At the same time, according to the ex-president, progress has been made in solar and wind energy. These projects will reach about 5,000 MB which is a figure close to 25% of the total capacity.

Finally, the former president emphasized that it is not an issue that gets resolved overnight. He concluded on his Twitter account: “Transformations take time and there is no certainty that everything can be replaced.”