Petrobras expects to begin producing natural gas from its offshore Colombian portfolio in 2031, with the company’s exploration and production director Sylvia Anjos confirming the timeline at the ROG.e 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro on 23 September.
The 2031 target reflects the time needed to secure a final environmental licence for the Sirius development and complete the front-end engineering and design work required before a final investment decision can be taken. Petrobras is waiting for that environmental approval before sanctioning the Sirius project, which has become one of the most significant new gas development opportunities in South America.
The Colombian offshore portfolio has been built through a series of exploration and appraisal campaigns on Block GUA-OFF-0, operated by Petrobras with a 44.44% interest alongside partner Ecopetrol, which holds the remaining 55.56%. The programme has delivered three successive discoveries that together confirm a substantial gas province in the Colombian Caribbean.
The original Sirius discovery established the scale of the resource, with the Sirius-2 appraisal well completed in December 2024 confirming more than 6 trillion cubic feet of gas in place. At the time, Petrobras described the discovery as potentially increasing Colombia’s current gas reserves by 200% and announced plans to invest $1.2 billion in the exploratory phase and a further $2.9 billion in the production development phase. The company had initially aimed for first gas in 2027, subject to securing environmental licences.
In March 2026, the Copoazu-1 well in the same block made a second gas discovery approximately eight kilometres from the Sirius discovery, with gas-bearing intervals identified in both the main objective and an additional zone, adding further volumes to the emerging gas province.
The third discovery followed in August 2026 with the Sandia-1 exploratory well, drilled in 1,251 metres of water approximately 42 kilometres from the Colombian coast. Sandia-1 spudded on 12 June 2026 and reached total depth on 29 July 2026, with gas-bearing intervals confirmed through well logs and further characterisation work underway in the laboratory. The well is located 18 kilometres from the Sirius discovery wells and nine kilometres from the Copoazu-1 well, reinforcing the scale and continuity of the gas province.
Petrobras’s five-year business plan for 2026 to 2030 allocates $7.1 billion to exploratory activities, with Colombia listed alongside São Tomé and Príncipe and South Africa as key international focus areas for reserve replacement beyond Brazil. The company’s operated production reached 3.34 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the second quarter of 2026, with the Colombian gas development expected to add a meaningful international production stream from 2031 onward.
Colombia’s domestic gas market context adds urgency to the timeline. The country has been facing a structural decline in its onshore gas reserves, with supply shortfalls projected within the current decade if new production is not brought online. The Sirius development, if sanctioned following the environmental licence award, would represent a transformational addition to Colombia’s domestic energy supply and could also support LNG export options in the longer term given the scale of the resource.
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