RE: pdq's not the only one waiting and sp hurting Colombia recently created an agency specifically to deal with permitting. Lets hope they get their act together. Judging by the fact that they state 12-15 month wait times, PDQ is at the far end of that wait time, so hopefully on the short list for approval. Also, they just got the Talora permit, so will be spudding that shortly. Nice size target at 20MM bbls net to PDQ. Approx 1 in 4 or 5 chance of success. Good article by David Pescod on PDQ. Fingers crossed
So we are stuck in this queue, as are a lot of other operators including Ecopetrol, Talisman and Pacific Rubiales. The
ministry has created a new agency called ANLA which is a licensing authority. The director of that agency was recently
interviewed on public television of Colombia and she said that there are 80 permits waiting from her agency to
clear. So we feel that there could have been much more practical solutions generated by the ministry, but it’s something
that is taking them a very long time. In the interview, this lady quoted that by law the permitting process should
take six months and now they are taking 12 to 15 months to issue them. So they are way behind their own stipulations.
The only recourse companies like us or anybody has is keep talking to them about what is happening with
your licenses because the other alternative is to sue the ministry of environment which is really counter-productive
for any company to work in a country...unless you plan to leave the country.