Northwestern Gas Pipeline

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The Northwestern Gas Pipeline, or Gasoducto Noroccidente, was a proposed gas pipeline designed to connect the Jobo gas fields of Colombia's Córdoba department with several cities in Colombia's interior, including Medellín, Mariquita and Bogotá. The project was cancelled in October 2023.

Location

The proposed pipeline was to be built in three phases. The first section of pipeline will run from Jobo to Medellín, the second from Medellín to Mariquita, and the third from Mariquita to Bogotá.

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Project Details

• Operator: Setco (Shanghai Engineering and Technology Corp)
• Owner: Canacol (25%), unnamed private investors (75%)
• Parent company: Canacol Energy Ltd.
• Capacity:
  • Phase 1 (Jobo-Medellín): 100 MMcfd
  • Phase 2 (Medellín-Mariquita): to be determined
  • Phase 3 (Mariquita-Bogotá): to be determined
• Length: 529 km
  • Phase 1 (Jobo-Medellín): 289 km
  • Phase 2 (Medellín-Mariquita): 139 km
  • Phase 3 (Mariquita-Bogotá): 105 km
• Diameter:
  • Phase 1 (Jobo-Medellín): 20 inches to 22 inches
  • Phase 2 (Medellín-Mariquita):
  • Phase 3 (Mariquita-Bogotá):
• Status: Cancelled
• Start Year:
  • Phase 1 (Jobo-Medellín): 2024
  • Phase 2 (Medellín-Mariquita): unknown
  • Phase 3 (Mariquita-Bogotá): 2028
• Financing:

Background

In a November 2016 natural gas planning report, Colombia's national energy agency UPME announced plans for the Gasoducto Noroccidente, a pipeline that would provide an alternative to the TGN Pipeline Network for transporting gas between Colombia's Caribbean coast and its interior.

Subsequent reports indicate that the 508-kilometer pipeline would be built in three phases: phase 1 would extend 264 kilometers from Jobo to Medellín, passing through the departments of Córdoba and Antioquia; the 139-kilometer phase 2 would run from Medellín to Mariquita, passing through Antioquia, Caldas and Tolima departments; and the 105-kilometer phase 3 would stretch from Mariquita to Bogotá, serving the departments of Tolima and Cundinamarca. As of January 2020, government projections estimated that the project could be completed by 2028.

In October 2019, Charle Gamba, president and CEO of the Canadian energy company Canacol, announced that a consortium led by Canacol planned to develop the first phase of the pipeline between Jobo and Medellín. Canacol would own 25% of the pipeline project, with unnamed private investors controlling the remaining 75%. Natural gas for the pipeline would come from Canacol's gas fields in Córdoba department, and would be purchased by the Colombian public utility company EPM (Empresas Públicas de Medellín). Mr Gamba estimated that a permit for the 100 MMcfd pipeline could be obtained by 2021; once permitted, construction of the pipeline would take place over 18 months, with commercial operation starting in 2023.

As of October 2021, construction of the pipeline's first phase between Jobo and Medellín was expected to begin in late 2021 or early 2022. In January 2022, Canacol Energy's president and CEO Charle Gamba estimated that the Jobo-Medellín section would be completed by the end of 2024. In March 2022, in a move to expedite the pipeline's progress, Colombia's government declared it a project of national strategic interest.

As of May 2022, Canacol president Charle Gamba confirmed that four international consortia had already placed binding offers for construction of the pipeline, with some calling for an eventual doubling of the pipeline's initial 100 MMcf/d capacity. Mr Gamba did not provide names of the bidding parties, noting that details were still being evaluated. Despite delays in the anticipated construction start date (now pushed back to late 2023), Mr Gamba emphasized that Canacol still planned to supply gas to EPM (Empresas Públicas de Medellín) by December 2024 as originally agreed.

In October 2022, Canacol Energy announced that it had awarded a contract to Setco (Shanghai Engineering and Technology Corp) for construction of the Jobo to Medellín pipeline, while also confirming that Setco would be the operator of the completed pipeline. Canacol reported that it had already signed two 12-year contracts to supply a total of 75 million cubic feet of gas per day through the pipeline, thereby guaranteeing customers for three quarters of the pipeline's initial 100 million cubic foot capacity.

In June 2023, a competing pipeline operator, Trasnsmetano, filed a complaint with the Colombian industry and commerce agency SIC (Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio) requesting that development of the pipeline be suspended on the grounds that Canacol was violating rules of free competition and had no authority to move forward with the project. As of mid-2023, the US$ 450 to 500 million project was still awaiting its environmental license, but reportedly continued to anticipate a start-up date of December 2024.

In October 2023, project owner Canacol announced that it was cancelling the pipeline, citing delays in the environmental licensing process, along with a pattern of legal, social and security-related obstacles that had arisen in the preceding months.