Colombia's Ecopetrol Regasification Project Faces Equipment Delivery Delays

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On August 21, the Pacific regasification project under Ecopetrol's procurement services in Colombia experienced delays in the delivery of some imported equipment due to port and road transport issues caused by an earthquake, with project commissioning schedules expected to be postponed by 22 to 30 days. The current gas supply target remains November 2026.

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake on August 10 did not directly damage the regasification facilities, but operations at the Buenaventura port were temporarily suspended, and roads leading to the project site were also affected, preventing some imported equipment from being unloaded and transported as originally planned. Project General Manager Mauricio Gómez stated that the project team is in communication with Ecopetrol regarding schedule adjustments and has submitted the earthquake and resulting logistics disruptions as a force majeure explanation.

The project was established under a regasification service contract signed between Ecopetrol and PIO SAS in March 2025, with a designed processing capacity of 60 million cubic feet per day. The project adopts a segmented liquefied natural gas supply scheme, receiving and storing LNG on the Pacific coast, transporting it overland to an inland regasification facility, and connecting to Colombia's national natural gas transportation system after gasification.

The project completed $130 million in senior debt financing in February 2026, with the Colombian National Development Finance Company and BTG Pactual each providing up to $65 million. In June, the project team set November 1 as the initial gas supply date, planning to first supply 60 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to Ecopetrol, followed by increased supply volumes to other users.

Currently, the earthquake's impact is mainly concentrated on equipment arrival at port and overland transport stages, with no structural damage reported to the project itself. Relevant terminals at the Buenaventura port have gradually resumed operations. Subsequent milestones include transport of remaining equipment, system installation, commissioning, and gas injection into the pipeline network.