What Changes Are in Store for Energy Policy in Colombia?

Energy attorney María Natalia Suárez Martínez was featured in a Q&A with The Dialogue's Energy Advisor about the future of Colombia's energy policy following the election of Abelardo de la Espriella as president. Outgoing President Gustavo Petro sought to reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels and accelerate the energy transition through halting new oil and gas exploration contracts, which Ms. Suárez Martínez said reduced investor confidence, depleted national reserves and worsened public finances. President-Elect de la Espriella has pledged to reverse the Petro Administration's policies, announcing he will reauthorize new hydrocarbon exploration and production contracts and reactivate suspended projects. Ms. Suárez Martínez told Energy Advisor one of the new government's initial challenges will be restoring sector confidence through making and enacting plans like these. She also talked about what steps the de la Espriella Administration will need to take to implement its energy policy, reattract foreign investment in Colombia's energy industry and advance energy transition commitments and new clean energy source options.

"For these measures to be effective, the new administration will need to guarantee institutional stability and create clear regulatory rules and legal certainty for contracts and investments," she said. "It will also need to adopt urgent measures regarding the corporate governance of Ecopetrol, which, as the country's largest company, is an indispensable actor in the sector's revitalization, provided that it recovers its technical capacity."

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