The News
Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s oil and gas policies are “absolutely insane,” the country’s former leader said Wednesday.
Speaking at the Semafor World Economy Summit, former Colombian President Iván Duque said Petro was wrong to stop exploration of new oil drilling and exploration contracts.
“When you stop exploration, you’re giving the wrong signals to the market. Market moves somewhere else and now we’re paying the cost of a reduction in our reserves,” Duque said.
Petro, elected in 2022 as Colombia’s first leftist president, announced last month that the country will buy gas from Qatar.
“Imagine the cost of importing oil and gas from Qatar. So those decisions are absolutely insane,” Duque said. “I think his own team is telling him, ‘Mr. President, if you shut down the oil and gas, there won’t be even a penny to be invested in the environment.’”
He said fighting deforestation is a more important facet of climate policy.
“Fortunately, we have elections next year and unfortunately, he has one more year in office,” said Duque, who was elected in 2018. His conservative party is now in opposition to Petro’s government.
The Semafor View
The energy transition is changing, not ending. Renewable and fossil-fuel production are at record highs. Clean energy is cheaper than oil drilling, and Big Tech’s appetite for power is growing exponentially. Investments into new fuel sources and green tech are unlikely to wind down any time soon, while countries are increasingly concerned with energy independence.