Duque says Colombia can supply oil to US

Colombian President Iván Duque met with US President Joe Biden in Washington last week to discuss energy security amid the ongoing Russian military incursion in Ukraine.

During the meeting, Duque said that his country would make its crude oil available to the US market as required in order to help stabilise global energy prices. “Colombia can contribute, and we want to contribute to the stability [of] world prices of energy, especially in the circumstances we are living,” he declared.

The meeting between the two leaders took place after a team of US officials travelled to Venezuela for talks with President Nicolás Maduro to explore the possibility of lifting US restrictions on the sale of that country’s oil.

Duque, for his part, sought to distinguish Colombia from Venezuela, saying that it was in a better position to deliver more oil to the market immediately. “Colombia today is a country that has more capacity to supply hydrocarbons than Venezuela has,” he stated in a press conference following his meeting with Biden.

Colombia is also prepared to expand deliveries to the US in accordance with US buyers’ requirements, he added. This may eliminate the need to approach Venezuela, he said.

In addition to asserting that Colombia had the ability to contribute more oil than Venezuela, Duque also emphasised that the national oil company (NOC) Ecopetrol was a major investor in the US. Ecopetrol is involved in oil production in the Permian basin in Texas and is co-operating with the US company Occidental Petroleum, he noted.

Duque did not specify how much crude Colombia was prepared to make available for US consumption. However, he stated that his country was currently producing around 890,000 barrels per day of oil and said that output levels were on track to reach 1mn bpd in the near future.