Colombia Speeds Oil Permits That Threaten Output Target

Colombia, South America’s third-largest crude supplier, is speeding environmental permitting for oil companies as delays threaten to derail an output target of 1 million barrels a day this year, the nation’s regulator said.

Fields awaiting permits include Rubiales, the nation’s largest, said Orlando Cabrales, president of the state-run oil regulator the National Hydrocarbons Agency, in an interview yesterday in Bogota. The field is owned by state-run Ecopetrol SA and Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp.