Guacamaya Energy’s continued bet on Colombia’s oil sector

Colombia

Jairo Hernández Morera, CEO of Guacamaya Energy, talks to The Energy Year about how the company continues to bet on Colombia’s oil sector despite difficulties, its well abandonment activities and its new geothermal business line. Guacamaya Energy provides well-intervention services for the oil and gas industry.

Why does Guacamaya Energy continue to bet on Colombia’s oil sector despite difficulties?
Given the slowing down of the market, many oilfield companies are moving to other countries in the region that give them better political and security guarantees. Regarding the latter, we have seen an increase in armed groups that have posed a threat to field operations.
The government is not giving the pertinent guarantees needed for work to be done in areas where operations are affected, and this discourages companies. This is a situation that affects all oilfield operators.
Despite the situation, we are committed to Colombia, and we are not going anywhere. We believe we are an important player that not only needs to continue its activities but increase them and fill in the gap left by those international firms that are leaving.
The reality is that the world and Colombia need more oil and gas activities. The government says that no more E&P licences will be granted and that exploration activities are declining. The reality is that if we do not explore and produce oil here, companies will do it elsewhere.
Furthermore, we have many companies that have been betting on Colombia over decades and have invested in extracting more oil and gas, and they need more services to continue to enhance their operations. In H1 2024, we won a series of important contracts, which highlights that despite the situation, there are still plenty of opportunities.

How successful have you been in the area of well abandonment in Colombia?
We have a very good track record, with many success stories with many companies, such as Hocol, Ecopetrol, SierraCol Energy and Mansarovar. We also work with Frontera Energy, with whom we have recently won a contract to abandon 220 wells in the next three years.
We are aiming to multiply this business line with many operators, as we are the only company – both nationally and internationally – that offers the complete package to abandon a well. In providing this full service, we use 100% our own equipment and personnel.
We have the know-how, the trained personnel and the capacity to carry out the design and planning of the abandonment programme in compliance with both international and Colombian standards.
We are leaders in integrated well abandonment in Colombia, but we aim to go beyond national borders and offer our services regionally in Mexico or even the USA. In all markets, every well that is born must die, and we can help companies do this integrated abandonment process.

What important services and equipment do you have under your portfolio?
We have a large span of different services: coiled tubing, thru tubing, stimulation, completion, cementing, workover, well testing, abandonment and wireline. Moreover, we are in the most important fields in the country, competing with multinational firms.
Regarding coiled tubing, we have captured more than 50% of the market share in Colombia. We are also the company with the most coiled tubing equipment in Colombia, with 11 units, which is double that of some international firms.
We are present in Piedemonte, where we have been working to repair a well in the Gibraltar field, which supplies gas to the Cartagena Refinery and Bucaramanga. We have invested a lot of money to acquire and import specialised well-control equipment from China to responsibly handle this project.
Additionally, we have the latest equipment for coiled tubing. For example, we have an offshore coiled tubing unit that we bought, and we overhauled it. We will possibly move it to Mexico, but we are still analysing what options we have to take it there with a partner.
In addition to this, we are specialists in thru tubing in Colombia. This refers to a variety of well-intervention and maintenance techniques that are performed through the existing production tubing in an oil or gas well. This approach allows for various operations without the need to remove the tubing, which can save time and reduce costs.
Workover is another new and very important division for us. Our workover equipment is assigned to integrated abandonment projects. To do this, not only do we have mobile workover units and RSUs [rapid service units], but we also have hydraulic workover units. At the moment we have two in the country, one purchased in the USA and one which has already done successful work with Frontera Energy.
Lastly, we offer chemical stimulation, which contributes to EOR. In this area we offer clients water and chemical injection solutions. Levels of water production associated with crude oil extraction in Los Llanos wells are very high, so we reinject that water into the reservoir to stimulate further production of crude.
A field in this area can see a production decline in a period of six months. For many operators, we’ve worked on stimulation programmes where we have increased production a great deal.

How is Guacamaya Energy becoming more sustainable, and can you tell us about your new geothermal line?
We are already using PV systems for self-consumption. We are reducing external energy consumption by almost 30%, especially at our Villavicencio base. Moreover, for our Neiva base, we are setting up a 211-kW system for self-consumption and expect to reduce our current energy consumption by 50%.
Regarding our operations, we have changed all our combustion engines to electric ones. We have about 20 units, and the savings in tonnes of CO2 emissions is impressive. In addition, we want to now acquire transport equipment that at least has a Euro 4 standard, which also reduces emissions. We are adapting as best we can to reduce emissions internally and also to reduce the clients’ overall emissions.
Regarding new lines, we have developed a brand-new geothermal line. We have an agreement with a French company, Enogia. This company designs and manufactures ORC [organic Rankine cycle] systems, which are turbines that use waste heat to drive a generator to produce power.
We already plan to sell around 10 180-kW units in 2024 to different operators. However, we are not only going to install these systems. We are also going to manufacture some pieces in Colombia with Colombian technology.

What overarching goals does Guacamaya have for the following years?
We are looking at regional expansion in Latin America. Mexico is a high-potential market we are entering, and the same goes for Argentina and Brazil, which are markets that are gaining a lot of traction now. We are also looking at offering integrated abandonment services in the USA, given the number of ageing wells and the potential this market has.
Furthermore, we are aiming to be the most important player in Colombia in the area of integrated well abandonment. We aim to grab the highest market share in the near future. Then, we are focusing strongly on coiled tubing drilling. We have the know-how and the equipment.
We also hope to be important players in the energy transition in Latin America, focusing mainly on a geothermal field, the drilling of wells and electrical generation.

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