Colombia candidate would hasten energy transition

Colombia candidate would hasten energy transition

Bogota, 23 November (Argus) — Colombia's leftist presidential front-runner Gustavo Petro is vowing to stop awarding oil exploration contracts in a bid to restructure Colombia's economy away from hydrocarbons, sparking a backlash from the oil industry.

"Coal and oil will come to an end whether we like it or not, and then move toward a transition so that the economy goes from a dependence on coal and oil to clean energy," Petro said at a recent mining conference.

A former Bogota mayor and guerrilla, Petro is the favorite in a broad field candidates for May 2022 elections to replace conservative incumbent Ivan Duque in August next year. Petro's main rival is likely to be Oscar Ivan Zuluaga of the conservative Centro Democratico party that supported Duque.