Prior to the suspension of the two fracking pilot projects in Colombia in August 2022, Peace Brigades International-Canada monitored and amplified the risks faced by environmental defenders opposed to fracking.
This included webinars with Colombian defenders on April 29, 2021, and May 8, 2022, along with research and multiple articles.
We highlighted Canadian corporate responsibilities in this given Toronto-based Sintana Energy held a 30 per cent non-operating share in VMM-37, the Platero fracking pilot project block; Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd. held a 20 per cent stake in the VMM-2/Plata and VMM-3/Piranga projects; and that Calgary-based Parex Resources had signed an exploration and production agreement with Colombia’s National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) for Block VMM-9 in the Magdalena Medio region.
Both webinars featured Yuvelis Morales Blanco, who led the opposition to fracking in Puerto Wilches. We recall that Morales had to go into exile in France in February 2022 due to the security risks associated to her work against the projects.
Now, MercoPress reports: “Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella announced on Friday [September 25] that his government will ‘fully’ reopen hydrocarbon exploration and the signing of new contracts, including hydraulic fracturing, during the swearing-in of businessman Joaquín Gutiérrez as president of Ecopetrol.”
De la Espriella stated: “My government fully reopens the path of exploration and the signing of new contracts, including fracking, to whatever it gives, as I said in the campaign, with absolutely all the criteria of environmental responsibility.”
That article adds: “The announcement does not in itself change the existing framework. Reactivating fracking in Colombia would require reversing the cancellation of the pilot projects ordered under the previous government and navigating regulatory and judicial restrictions whose precise status the executive has not detailed.”
PBI-Canada remains attentive to the risks this situation creates for Colombian land and environmental human rights defenders.
Ecopetrol, Drummond, GeoPark
Portafolio reports: “The race to drill the first fracking well in Colombia currently has Ecopetrol and Drummond as the companies with the most concrete routes, while GeoPark has expressed interest in participating with projects at specific points.”
Drummond Energy
El Colombiano specifies: “In this new scenario, Drummond Energy appears as one of the companies with the most defined path towards eventual fracking drilling in Colombia. The company plans to begin drilling unconventional deposits in the Cesar-Rancheria basin, located between Cesar and La Guajira, in 2027.”
GeoPark
El Colombiano also reports: “GeoPark has expressed interest in evaluating opportunities and transferring to Colombia the experience acquired in Vaca Muerta, Argentina [but] has not announced a specific block, municipality, investment amount, drilling schedule or potential production volume associated with a fracking project.”
Ecopetrol
And Infobae reports: “Ecopetrol has one of the most developed track records, since the state-owned company worked together with ExxonMobil on the Kalé and Platero pilots, in Puerto Wilches, Santander.”
Who owns these companies?
Ecopetrol S.A. is majority state-owned by the Colombian government and functions as a publicly traded mixed-economy corporation. At $3,056.20 million ($3.06 billion), the Toronto-based Scotiabank has the largest stake of any global bank in the company, according to the Banking on Climate Chaos 2026 report.
The Drummond Company is a privately owned American corporation based in Birmingham, Alabama. Drummond does not have public stock or institutional shareholders. The CEO of Drummond Company is Richard Mullen.
GeoPark Limited is an independent Latin American company that has its headquarters in Bogotá, Colombia. The Banking on Climate Choas report documents that JP Morgan Chase has $233.33 million of financing in GeoPark. Finance Colombia has reported: “In March 2026, Colden Investments S.A., an affiliate of Jaime Gilinski, invested approximately $107 million USD for about 20% of the company’s shares, becoming its largest shareholder.” And in September 2026, El Colombiano reported: “The Gilinski Group will take a new step in its expansion in Latin America by becoming the controlling shareholder of GeoPark… The transaction contemplates that the Colombian conglomerate will initially reach a 56.3% stake in GeoPark’s common shares.” As of February 2026, Calgary-based Parex Resources Inc. owned 11.8% of GeoPark Limited.
We continue to follow this.
Photo: On June 28, 2022, PBI-Canada and PBI-Colombia met with social leaders in Puerto Wilches and heard their commitment to stop fracking.
