Petrobras and Ecopetrol confirmed gas at Sandia-1 off La Guajira, nine kilometres from one discovery and eighteen from another. Three finds in the same waters stop being luck.
BY LCN WIRE
Quick summary: Petrobras confirmed a natural gas discovery at the Sandia-1 well in Block GUA-OFF-0, about 42 kilometres off Colombia's Caribbean coast in 1,251 metres of water. Drilled with Ecopetrol, it is the third deepwater gas discovery the partners have made in these waters, and it lands while Colombia faces questions over future domestic gas supply.
What was found at Sandia-1?
Gas, in a block already ringed by discoveries.
Drilling Contractor reported that Petrobras confirmed a new natural gas accumulation at the Sandia-1 exploration well in Block GUA-OFF-0. The well sits roughly 42 kilometres from the coast in 1,251 metres of water, about 18 kilometres from the Sirius-1 and Sirius-2 wells and 9 kilometres from the Copoazu-1 discovery well.
World Oil reported the well encountered gas-bearing intervals now being evaluated through well logging, with laboratory analysis planned to characterise them further. Drilling began on 12 June 2026 and reached final depth on 29 July, according to Petrobras.
Petrobras operates the block as head of a consortium with Colombia's state company Ecopetrol.
Why this is a Caribbean story
Because the water is the Caribbean Sea, and this is the third find in it.
Offshore Magazine reported that Sandia-1 extends a string of gas discoveries in the Caribbean Sea and supports the emergence of Colombia's Caribbean offshore basin as a potentially significant new source of domestic natural gas. The block lies off the department of La Guajira, on Colombia's Caribbean coast.
That is a different sentence from "offshore Colombia," which is how most of the coverage has framed it. A single well is an exploration result. Three deepwater gas discoveries clustered within twenty kilometres of each other, in a basin that had produced nothing at this scale before, is the making of a gas province in the Caribbean basin itself.
Upstream Online reported that the partners have already unlocked more than six trillion cubic feet of gas at Sirius.
Who needs the gas?
Colombia does, and the timing is the point.
Offshore Magazine tied the discovery directly to concerns over the country's future gas supply. Colombia has been moving from a position of domestic sufficiency toward imports, which makes a domestic offshore source a matter of energy security rather than export ambition. Gas found 42 kilometres from its own coast does not have to be shipped to be useful.
For the wider Caribbean the read-across is about sequence rather than volume. The region's offshore has been an oil story, driven by Guyana's Stabroek Block and its succession of developments. A Colombian gas province in the same sea introduces a second resource, a second set of buyers, and a second class of infrastructure, at a moment when Trinidad and Tobago's gas position has been the region's standing constraint.
What has not been established
Volumes, commerciality and schedule.
Petrobras has confirmed gas-bearing intervals, not a resource estimate for Sandia-1. The evaluation is still at the well-log stage with laboratory work to follow. No development decision, timetable or production figure attaches to this well, and Editora Brasil Energia has described the Sirius project as one of the company's main bets to expand gas reserves outside Brazil, which is a statement of intent rather than of booked reserves.
The terms on which Colombia takes its share are also not addressed in any of the reporting. That question, of what a state actually keeps from a discovery in its own waters, is one this publication has examined in Guyana's case, where the royalty on the producing block is two per cent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Sandia-1 well?
In Block GUA-OFF-0, roughly 42 kilometres off Colombia's Caribbean coast near La Guajira, in 1,251 metres of water, about 18 kilometres from the Sirius wells and 9 kilometres from Copoazu-1.
Who drilled it?
Petrobras, as operator of a consortium in partnership with Ecopetrol S.A., Colombia's state oil company. Drilling ran from 12 June to 29 July 2026.
Is this a confirmed commercial discovery?
No. Petrobras confirmed gas-bearing intervals, which are being evaluated through well logs with laboratory characterisation to follow. No volumes, development decision or production timetable have been announced.
Why does it matter beyond Colombia?
It is the third deepwater gas discovery the partners have made in the Caribbean Sea, which points to an emerging offshore gas basin in a region whose offshore story has so far been dominated by oil, and it arrives while Colombia faces questions about future domestic gas supply.
How much gas has been found in the area already?
Upstream Online reported that more than six trillion cubic feet has been unlocked at Sirius, the neighbouring project in the same block.