(Bloomberg) – Colombian businesses are bracing for a deepening shortfall in natural gas supply that threatens to shutter some operations.
Supplies of gas are expected to fall at least 10% short of demand next year, compared with 5% currently, according to the commodities exchange. In a worst-case scenario, the shortfall could reach as high as 20%.
While this year’s shortfall is being met by spare capacity at Colombia’s only LNG import terminal, new infrastructure will need to be built to meet the growing deficit. A shortage would leave some industries scrambling for fuel as current regulation prioritizes supplying homes, transportation and small businesses.
“We’re already hearing about industries that are saying that if there is no gas they will be forced to shut,” said Sandra Fonseca, the head of Asoenergia, an association that groups Colombia’s biggest industry and commercial consumers of gas.
State oil company Ecopetrol SA has announced three separate facilities that will allow it to bring in LNG, with the first—located in Buenaventura on Colombia’s Pacific coast—expected to come online in the second quarter of next year. New gas wells in Caribbean waters are also expected to come online, though not until at least 2029.
