Colombia is leaning more on imported liquefied natural gas as mature fields fade. A single discovery in the Caribbean—Sirius, operated by Ecopetrol with Petrobras—could change that equation.
The partners are targeting first gas in 2030, contingent on environmental licenses and consultations with around 120 communities, a process they say is roughly halfway complete and slated to wrap by June 2026.
What’s at stake is scale and cost. Sirius is designed for about 470 million cubic feet per day for roughly a decade—close to half of Colombia’s expected gas output in the early 2030s.
Company tests describe an unusually “clean” stream—more than 99% methane with very low sulfur and CO₂—which should cut processing needs.
Because domestic gas avoids shipping and regasification fees, the partners say it could land up to 40% cheaper than imported LNG, easing power prices for households, stabilizing costs for factories, and reducing pressure on the balance of payments.
Sirius Gas: How One Offshore Find Could Rewire Colombia’s Energy Math. (Photo Internet reproduction)
Colombia-LNG expansion accelerates energy supply
The near-term bridge is imports. Cartagena’s SPEC terminal anchors today’s LNG receipts, while additional regasification capacity is being advanced for Ballena (La Guajira), Coveñas (Sucre), and the Pacific port of Buenaventura.
Ballena alone is cited at roughly 530 million cubic feet per day—enough headroom for Sirius to ramp without crowding out current flows.
Behind the story is a race against the deepwater clock. Projects like this often take 14–15 years; Ecopetrol and Petrobras aim to compress “discovery to first molecule” to about eight.
To lock in demand, they launched a joint sales program in three tranches—113, 86, and 50 GBTU/day—moving from buyer briefings in early November to contract signatures by mid-December, with revenues split 56% to Ecopetrol and 44% to Petrobras.
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