Middle Magdalena Valley, Colombia — The Origin of Ecopetrol

Abstract

Abstract

The Middle Magdalena Valley (MMV) is one of the most prolific basins in Colombia and was the site where the Colombian Petroleum Company, now known as ECOPETROL, was created.

Located in the central part of Colombia, bordered to the west by the Cordillera Central and east by the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes, is a purely NS elongated onshore basin, and with an area of 30,988 km2.

The start of exploratory activities dates back to the early 1900s, when oil seeps were reported near the city of Barrancabermeja, and the first discoveries were made by Jose Joaquin Bohorquez. Later, these discoveries were granted in concession to Roberto de Mares in 1905.

The first major discovery was the Infantas field, in 1918, by the Tropical Oil Co (TROCO), with reserves of 259 MMboe. In 1926, it was discovered that so far is the largest field in the basin, La Cira, with recoverable reserves of 572 MMboe. Similarly, a significant number of small fields were discovered in the period of 1900-1950s, mainly in Oligocene –Eocene clastic reservoirs.

The exploration of the basin has continued for decades, taking discoveries of small to medium size. To date, about 4 BBOE have been recovered and there is still a great remnant of HCS in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

After a long period of exploration and exploitation, mainly by TROCO, the August 25, 1951, nearly 45 years of activities in “Concesion de Mares”, this reverses to Colombian state, and the Colombian Petroleum Company “ECOPETROL”, was created.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90260 © 2016 AAPG/SEG International Conference & Exhibition, Cancun, Mexico, September 6-9, 2016