GeoPark, Mines and Energy Ministry discuss energy transition agenda

Minister Andres Camacho hears of significant emissions reductions in GeoPark’s largest block during his visit to Company operations in Casanare.

Leading Latin American oil and gas exploration and production company GeoPark and Colombia’s Mines and Energy Ministry, represented by Minister Andrés Camacho, worked together last Friday on a joint energy transition agenda that includes the creation of energy communities in areas surrounding the Company’s operation.

The importance of coordinating work on the transition to cleaner energy sources in rural areas was one of the topics discussed by Minister Camacho, the Ministry’s Hydrocarbons Director Adwar Casallas, and other senior Ministry officials in their visit to the Llanos 34 Block, located in the south of Casanare department and which produces 7% of Colombia’s total oil production. The chairman of the Colombian Oil and Gas Association (ACP), Frank Pearl, also participated in the visit.

During the visit, Minister Camacho’s delegation learned about GeoPark’s emissions mitigation plan, which is based on the pillars of access to clean energy sources, methane gas management and energy efficiency. The tour of the Tigana field included seeing the facilities that since 2022 have connected the Llanos 34 Block to the national grid, which along with other measures implemented since 2021 have significantly reduced emissions from the block. The carbon intensity of the Llanos 34 block in 2022 was 9.7 kgCO2e/boe, lower than the estimated average of the global hydrocarbons industry. The Minister and his team also visited a 9.9MW installed capacity photovoltaic solar plant, the first one built for GeoPark’s operations in Casanare. With these initiatives the Company continues to progress towards meeting its ambitious short, medium and long-term decarbonization goals, which has made Llanos 34 one of the lowest carbon-intensive oil production blocks in Colombia.

“We are very pleased to have received Minister Andres Camacho and his team at Llanos 34, and to share with him our operational, safety, social and environmental standards, as well as our firm commitment to the country’s climate goals and to a safe and just energy transition,” said Monica Jimenez, GeoPark Director of Strategy, Sustainability and Legal. “We are very proud of the work we have carried out at GeoPark in partnership with the contractors and the communities that neighbor the operation, who have accompanied us in these important projects,” she said.

“We learnt about GeoPark’s operation and reviewed the measures it has adopted to reduce CO₂ emissions,” Minister Camacho said. “At the same time, we are working on a just energy transition agenda through the consolidation of energy communities in the regions of influence of its projects. The communities would also contribute to the reduction of energy poverty in territories historically overlooked by the State.”

Director of Hydrocarbons Adwar Casallas added that “GeoPark, as the second-largest operator [in Colombia] after Ecopetrol with 7% of the country’s production, has shown that it not only focusses on oil production and has also been working with the government policy that we are making, which is on energy communities.”

Speaking after the visit, the ACP’s Frank Pearl said that “The achievements of GeoPark and many more companies in the sector in reducing carbon emissions – such as the transformation of the energy matrix of the block we visited today – show how that the oil and gas industry, in addition to being an engine that powers the economy of the regions and the country, is also a pioneer of important technical, human and economic efforts to implement sustainable practices and technologies that contribute to the decarbonization goals established by the Government.”

In 2024 GeoPark will continue to advance in its climate actions with a focus on mitigation, but also on climate change adaptation plans designed and implemented hand in hand with authorities and the communities with which it shares land.

For more information on the visit, click here.

ABOUT GEOPARK

GeoPark is a leading Latin American oil and gas exploration and production company with assets in Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil, and which has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2014. It is the second largest oil producer in Colombia with almost 7% of the country’s total production. Since it was founded GeoPark has had an Integrated Values System called SPEED that summarizes its commitment in five critical areas: Safety, Prosperity, Employees, Environment and Community Development. SPEED has been key for GeoPark in attracting the best talent, being the preferred partner and the best neighbor, and developing a successful, safe and sustainable operation.

For more information: conexiones@geo-park.com