Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state-controlled oil and gas company, has formally asked the country’s Attorney General’s Office, known as the Fiscalía, to investigate a multimillion-dollar contract tied to the Pacific Regasification Plant, a project seen as crucial to preventing potential power blackouts in Colombia.
According to an exclusive report by El Tiempo’s investigative unit, the complaint, filed on September 2, questions how the $172 million contract was awarded to Puertos, Inversiones y Obras (PIO SAS) during the tenure of former Ecopetrol president Ricardo Roa, under the government of President Gustavo Petro.
The inquiry centers on Einstein Mauricio Gómez, an engineer who advised on the plant’s design and previously worked at Creg, Colombia’s energy and gas regulatory commission. His name had also circulated as a possible candidate for a top executive role at Ecopetrol. Gómez denies any wrongdoing, telling reporters, in essence, to go ahead and search his records, confident that investigators will find nothing improper.
Even as the probe unfolds, construction continues. The gas carrier Tura is currently sailing near the California coast en route to the Colombian Pacific port of Buenaventura, where the regasification plant is expected to begin operating by mid-November. Ecopetrol is separately negotiating the natural gas supply needed to fuel the facility, a project officials view as vital to shoring up the country’s energy security.
To read the full investigation and see how this story develops, check out the original report at El Tiempo.
Source: Exclusivo: Ecopetrol pide a Fiscalía investigar contrato de Regasificadora del Pacífico sellado en la era Roa-Petro (eltiempo.com).
Image: Wolfgang.W. , BY 2.0 (via Openverse).