Colombia Seeks Royalties Change to Revive Oil Production

Colombia is seeking to halt a decline in oil production by making its royalties system more favorable to large drillers, the head of the country’s Planning Department Simon Gaviria said.

The proposal would give oil companies a “big incentive” to invest in increasing output at existing fields by treating the extra crude as though it were from a new discovery, making it eligible for lower levies, Gaviria said. The proposal forms part of the government’s four-year National Development Plan, which needs to be approved by Congress to become law.