The oil sector continues to be a major driver of the Colombian economy. According to the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP), the oil and gas industry accounts for 40 percent of the country’s exports, 20 percent of fiscal revenues, and 76 percent of royalties as of May 2023.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Additionally, Ecopetrol remains the largest company in the country, accumulating revenues of 73.2 trillion pesos in the first half of 2023.
These figures not only translate into revenue but also into employment, development, and well-being for communities. Much of this positive impact has been achieved thanks to the management of companies like Industrial Consulting Group (ICG), a Colombian firm with 14 years of experience that has been part of the history of high-impact projects such as the Cartagena Refinery and the Rubiales and Quifa fields, among others, which have led them to expand their business into Panama, Peru, and Mexico.
Eduardo Rivodó, the company’s president, describes himself as “Venezuelan by birth, and Colombian by adoption.” This engineer, with extensive experience in his field, left his country in a context of “companies being expropriated and oil workers laid off,” which led to a significant brain drain. Many highly experienced Venezuelan professionals emigrated in search of new opportunities.
In 2009, he settled in Colombia to establish ICG, a firm focused on providing technical services for the oil industry in the field. One of its main lines of business is acting as a bridge between builders and operators when it comes to commissioning and starting up facilities for crude oil processing, in any of its phases.
First challenge
Their first contract, that same year, was with Pacific Rubiales. It involved initiating testing and later operating the expanded facilities at the Rubiales Field, the largest operation of its kind in the country. This project enabled Colombia to surpass the production of one million barrels of oil per day and gain a prominent position in global markets.
Rubiales crude is different from traditional oil and is classified as extra-heavy, requiring special handling to ensure efficient extraction. This is where Venezuelan engineers were able to make a significant difference.
“At first, around 15,000 barrels a day were produced because techniques widely used in Venezuela were not yet known. These fields need to be operated differently from conventional ones. That was the opportunity for many engineers to come to Colombia and apply their knowledge to increase production,” Rivodó emphasized.
Self-sufficiency
The executive pointed out that today things are different, and the country has “technological self-sufficiency” with a skilled, world-class workforce capable of taking on any productive task.
This includes fracking techniques, which, “although not well received by some communities environmentally, can contribute resources from unconventional reservoirs. I am convinced that if done properly, it has the potential to even quadruple reserves.”
Rivodó emphasized that “Colombia is not an oil-producing country, but a country with oil.” The difference, he explained, is that while the national territory has a potential of 2 billion barrels of crude, the Orinoco Oil Belt in Venezuela alone holds 236 billion barrels.
Since his arrival, he stated, the horizon for Colombia’s conventional oil reserves has remained between 6 and 8 years, but it has not increased substantially, and that has a limit. “Colombia has been thoroughly studied and structured, and it really needs to prepare for a post-oil solution because it is not a long-term resource,” he assured.
Major challenge
María Corina Rivodó, ICG’s Director of Marketing, Communications, and CSR, emphasized that while the company’s initial milestone was bringing knowledge that was not available in the country, its greatest achievement was in transferring it to Colombians.
“The human talent and team that Industrial Consulting built were based on that synergy between highly qualified Venezuelan migrants and experienced Colombian personnel who came from Ecopetrol,” she remarked.
This is how a team was formed for the start-up and commissioning of Reficar, one of the most modern refineries in Latin America, which today produces around 210,000 barrels per day and contributes 1 percent of Colombia’s GDP.
ICG was the only Colombian company with the know-how to participate in the selection process, which it ultimately won over major international companies from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, with prices two or three times more competitive.
“You don’t hand over a massive airplane to just anyone to take off; it must be someone with all the necessary knowledge and skills. In our case, they entrusted Reficar to us for five years with full confidence, a facility with equipment that cost billions of dollars,” Rivodó explained.
Outlook
Last May, Campetrol called on the national government to “make decisions that ensure energy and fiscal self-sufficiency beyond 2029,” in addition to “implementing policies for the development of new exploration and production contracts.”
The government’s announcements to suspend new oil exploration projects have not caused ICG to lose its momentum. In fact, it continues to maintain key operations in Peru and now in Mexico, though, as part of the sector, it has some concerns.
“Halting exploration impacts energy security and self-sustainability,” said María Corina. She warned, “The oil industry also contributes to regional development, and this would be affected, as well as the country’s macroeconomic stability.” Sector figures indicated that between January and June 2023, there was a 16.8 percent reduction in total drilling activity.
The survey conducted by the association for that period revealed that the main issue facing companies in the sector is social conflict, followed by the cost of raw materials and lack of demand.
In this regard, ICG has contributed to the CSR projects of its clients, such as those with Petroperú, and maintains its own initiatives in education in collaboration with universities, as well as environmental initiatives in partnership with local communities. “We have programs like Educating Together, Building Together, and Working Together, which contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” the executive noted.
“Our greatest achievement,” emphasized Eduardo Rivodó, “has been showing the world that things can be done with intelligence, techniques, and timing. I don’t think there’s a Latin American company in the world that has undertaken a project as complex as ours. Here in Colombia, there is world-class technical expertise ready to be exported.”
Extracted from “Special: Companies Building the Nation” by Revista Semana, Colombia, August 29, 2023