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Oil and gas exploration and production in Colombia: how the ANH assigns areas, who can bid, capacity requirements, direct assignment and unconventional reservoirs

Last verified: 2026-10-27 · Status: Stable

Oil and gas in Colombia belong to the State and are developed under contracts with the Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH), which classifies the country into available, reserved and assigned areas and awards them under its 2022 selection regulation (Acuerdo 003 de 2022). Colombian and foreign companies, with or without a local domicile, can qualify by proving legal, financial, technical and operational, and HSE and social responsibility capacity; pure investors need only legal and financial capacity, and a parent can lend its capacity with a joint and several guarantee. Areas go out through open or special competitive processes in which the nominating company can match the best counteroffer, or exceptionally by direct assignment; since 2024 the ANH can also contract the operation of fields that revert to the State, and royalties, the price linked surtax and the special FX regime apply on top.

Key facts

Years a company is barred from ANH processes after forfeiture of an ANH contract	5 yearsAcuerdo ANH 003 de 2022 art. 9 par., as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Years a company is barred after termination of an ANH contract for breach	3 yearsAcuerdo ANH 003 de 2022 art. 9 par., as of 2026-10-27 · in force

The rule

1. The State owns the subsoil and non renewable natural resources, and their exploitation causes a royalty in favour of the State in addition to any other agreed consideration.Constitución Política de Colombia de 1991, Art. 332 and art. 360, 1991-07-20 official text · verified 2026-10-27

2. The ANH's contracting activity and the conduct of those involved follow private law principles and rules, the specific provisions of the regulation and, absent a specific rule, overriding legal principles. Contracts are governed in full by Colombian law under Ley 80 de 1993 art. 76 and Ley 1150 de 2007 art. 13, with objective selection, transparency, economy and accountability. The regulation does not govern contracts signed before it; their parties may jointly opt into the international arbitration clause of the latest selection cycle.Acuerdo 003 de 2022 of the ANH Board (Reglamento de Selección de Contratistas y Asignación de Áreas), Art. 1, 3 and 4, 2022-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-27

3. The ANH determines, delimits and classifies areas by location (onshore or offshore), geological characteristics and available information (mature, emerging and frontier) and legal and contractual status (reserved, available or assigned, and assigned areas in evaluation, exploration or production). Areas under study for a specific competitive process, or with environmental restrictions, authority decisions or strategic or policy reasons that prevent offering them, are reserved. The ANH keeps a public land map (Mapa de Tierras) of the areas; it may show restrictions notified to the ANH but does not replace the investor's own environmental, social and land due diligence.Acuerdo 003 de 2022 of the ANH Board, Art. 6 and 8, 2022-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-27

4. Colombian and foreign companies, with or without a domicile in Colombia, may seek qualification alone or jointly. Interested parties must prove legal, economic and financial, technical and operational, and health, safety, environment and corporate social responsibility capacity according to whether they bid as investor or operator; investors need at least legal and financial capacity, and the operator must meet legal, technical and operational and HSE requirements. Financial and technical capacity may be shown through a parent or a company of the same group if it signs a joint and several guarantee. Companies whose ANH contract was forfeited in the five years before the process, or terminated for breach in the previous three years, or that owe pending obligations such as economic rights or royalties, cannot qualify.Acuerdo 003 de 2022 of the ANH Board, Art. 9 and par., art. 10 and art. 11, 2022-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-27

5. Contractors and areas are selected through competitive processes or, exceptionally, direct assignment. In the open competitive process, on any business day a qualified company may propose an available area, offering an exploration and production (E&P), technical evaluation (TEA) or other approved contract; after the Nation and territory coordination procedure, the ANH publishes the interest without naming the nominator, receives counteroffers in a public hearing and the nominator may match or beat the best counteroffer to win the area. In the special competitive process the ANH offers areas on its own initiative by open or closed invitation and awards to the best offer in a single auction.Acuerdo 003 de 2022 of the ANH Board, Art. 16 and art. 17 lit. a and b, 2022-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-27

6. With prior authorization of its Board, the ANH may assign available areas directly, subject to counteroffers, to qualified interested parties for reasons that include the area's special nature or location, social or environmental restrictions, limited technical information, public interest, national security or public order, energy or economic policy, or to assign producing fields, discovered or undeveloped discoveries, or areas returned through relinquishment or contractor breach.Acuerdo 003 de 2022 of the ANH Board, Art. 18, 2022-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-27

7. The ANH may contract the operation and administration of areas whose assets pass to the Nation at the end of the production period, on reversion or whenever State owned productive assets in discovered fields need administration, under requirements, procedures and contract models approved beforehand by its Board.Acuerdo 03 de 2024 of the ANH Board, adding art. 26 to Acuerdo 003 de 2022, Art. 1 (new art. 26), 2024-04-30 official text · verified 2026-10-27 · changed: Acuerdo 03 de 2024, signed 30 April 2024 and in force on publication in the Diario Oficial, added art. 26 so the ANH can select operators for reverted fields without assigning new areas.

8. An unconventional reservoir is a low primary permeability rock formation that must be stimulated to improve hydrocarbon mobility and recovery, including tight sand and carbonate oil and gas, coal bed methane, shale oil and gas, methane hydrates and oil sands. The Ministry of Mines and Energy issues the technical standards on well integrity, hydraulic stimulation, produced water injection and flowback, without prejudice to environmental obligations.Decreto 1073 de 2015 (compiling Decreto 3004 de 2013), Art. 2.2.1.1.1.1 and 2.2.1.1.1.2, 2015-05-26 official text · verified 2026-10-27

Route	Who starts it	How it is decided
Open competitive process	Any qualified company nominating an available area on any business day	Public counteroffers; the nominator may match or beat the best one
Special competitive process, open	ANH, by public call	Best offer from qualified bidders in a single auction
Special competitive process, closed	ANH, by invitation approved by its Board	Best offer from the invited and qualified bidders
Direct assignment with counteroffer	ANH, with prior Board authorization, in listed cases	Subject to counteroffers
Operation of reverted fields (art. 26, 2024)	ANH	Requirements and contract models approved by the Board

How the ANH awards hydrocarbon areas (Acuerdo 003 de 2022 art. 16 to 18)

Step by step

Check the ANH land map for available areas and their classification, then run independent environmental, social and land title due diligence; the map is not a substitute.
Decide whether to qualify as investor or operator and assemble legal, financial, technical and HSE evidence; consider using a parent's capacity backed by a joint and several guarantee.
Nominate an area in the open process or prepare for a special process, reading the terms of reference for minimum offer values and evaluation factors.
On award, set up the branch or subsidiary that will sign, and decide whether to keep the special FX regime for oil and gas branches.
Model royalties on the production scale, the price linked income tax surtax and the environmental licence timeline before committing work programmes.

Common traps

A forfeited ANH contract in the last five years, a termination for breach in the last three, or unpaid economic rights or royalties disqualify the whole bidder.
In the open process your nomination is published (without your name) and others may counteroffer; your protection is the right to match, which must be exercised on time.
Older contracts stay under their own rules; the 2022 regulation does not automatically apply, though parties may jointly opt into the newer arbitration clause.
Unconventional reservoirs carry their own technical standards on stimulation, water injection and flowback; do not assume conventional permits cover them.

Sources

← Mine closure, formalization of small miners and the mercury ban in Colombia: the 2026 closure rules, closure guarantees, the formalization bank of areas and temporary environmental licencesNatural gas and liquid fuels in Colombia: supply priority in shortages, gas imports and exports, regasification access, international pipelines, and refining and fuel import authorizations →