Within the framework of the powers granted to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (“MME”) by means of article 2.2.2.28. of Decree 1073 of 2015 and after having received from the UPME in July of this year the “Technical Study for the Natural Gas Supply Plan 2019-2028”, the MME adopted the Natural Gas Supply Plan 2019-2028 through of Resolution 40304 of October 15, 2020. This supply plan presents the description of the most important projects to supply the demand for gas in the country, among which is the infrastructure for importing gas from the Pacific, which includes the plant regasification and the Buenaventura – Yumbo gas pipeline.
One of the recommendations of the UPME in the technical study delivered to the MME is that the infrastructure for importing gas from the Pacific comes into operation by 2024, since by that time it is highly probable that an El Niño phenomenon will occur, which entails to high gas consumption in the country. Therefore, and to meet the increases in demand, it was decided that incentives should be adopted for the early termination of the project, and therefore it is useful to establish regulatory conditions in order to reward early termination. This task will be in the hands of CREG through its regulatory authority, not only for the aforementioned project but also for all projects included in the plan, in accordance with article 2 thereof.
Thus, the following projects were included in the Natural Gas Supply Plan:
|
Project |
Description |
Putting into Operation |
| Transportation Capacity in the Mariquita – Gualanday section | Design, adaptation and assembly of the necessary infrastructure to guarantee a transport capacity of 20 Million Cubic Feet (“MCPD”). | December 2022 |
| Bidirectionality Barrancabermeja – Ballena | Design, adaptation and assembly of the necessary infrastructure to guarantee a bidirectional transport capacity of 100 MCPD. | December 2022 |
| Bidirectionality Barranquilla – Ballena | Design, adaptation and assembly of the infrastructure necessary to guarantee a bidirectional transport capacity of 170 MCPD. | December 2022 |
| Barranquilla – Ballena with Ballena – Barrancabermeja Interconnection | Design, adaptation and assembly of the necessary infrastructure to guarantee the interconnection of the Barranquilla – Ballena section and the Ballena – Barrancabermeja section with a bidirectional transport capacity of 170 MCPD. | December 2022 |
| Expansion of the transport capacity of the Jamundí – Valle del Cauca branch | Design, adaptation and assembly of the necessary infrastructure in the Jamundí branch that guarantees the attention of the demand in the Popayán node of 3 MCPDD. | December 2022 |
| Yumbo- Mariquita bidirectionality | Adequacy and assembly of the necessary infrastructure to guarantee a bidirectional transport capacity of 250 MCPD. | 58 months from the selection of an investor for the execution of the Pacific gas import infrastructure. No later than December 2024. |
| Pacific Regasification Plant located in Buenaventura Bay – Valle del Cauca. | · Regasification capacity not less than 400 MCPD.
Storage capacity not less than 170,000 m3 of liquefied natural gas – LNG |
58 months from the selection of an investor for the execution of the project. No later than December 2024. |
| Gas pipeline from the Regasification Plant located in Buenaventura Bay, to a delivery point to the National Transportation System in Yumbo. | Transportation capacity of not less than 400 MCPD at a delivery point to the National Transportation System in Yumbo | 58 months from the selection of an investor for the execution of the project. No later than December 2024. |
The execution of the investor selection processes that will eventually develop these projects is the responsibility of the UPME, as mentioned in article 3 of the plan.