Colombia cuts crude, price targets for 2016

Colombia's government cut its crude production target and price expectation for 2016 as international crude prices extend their slide.

Colombia set a new target of 944,000 b/d in 2016 based on $34/bl, down from an earlier goal of 955,000 b/d at $50/bl, finance minister Mauricio Cárdenas said yesterday.

"With crude at $30/bl, some of our production gets sacrificed," he said.

In June 2015, the government reported a target of 1mn b/d for every year until 2020 with a crude price assumption ranging from $74/bl in 2016 to $63/bl in 2020.

Some oil projects in Colombia have already been postponed in response to sub-$30/bl crude prices.

Bogotá is struggling to offset lost crude revenue by reforming the economy's tax regime.

Colombia has already deployed some austerity measures to reduce government spending.

The government is banking on an economic dividend from state-controlled Ecopetrol's new 165,000 b/d Reficar refinery and a highway construction campaign known as 4G.

The first portfolio of 4G projects is scheduled to start construction this year.

Colombia's GDP expanded by 3.2pc in 2015, according to Cárdenas.

The International Monetary Fund has forecast growth of 2.7pc for 2016, down from its 2015 projection of 3pc.