Mumbai: India and Colombia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in hydrocarbon sector.

India's Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora signed the MoU with his Colombian counterpart, Hernan Martinez Torres, Minister of Energy and Mines of the Government of Colombia.

Deora said that the MoU provides an umbrella framework to facilitate and enhance bilateral cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, and that the two countries have agreed to cooperate across the entire spectrum of the hydrocarbon sector, particularly in the areas of exploration and production of oil and gas, exchange of training and human resource development, and exchange of visits of professionals and technicians.

The two countries would set up a joint working group in the hydrocarbon sector for enhancing cooperation.

Hernan Martinez Torres, the Colombian minister of energy and mines said that the MoU between Colombia and India is significant, given the tremendous potential for Colombia's association with India in energy sector.

Torres said that this is the first of a series of MoUs with Indian authorities, which could be concluded between the two countries. He said that a similar MoU was considered in the mining sector in a meeting on 4 September, and that the MoU on hydrocarbons was initiation of an excellent process of cooperation between India and Colombia.

Petroleum minister Deora underlined that despite the geographical distance between the two countries, India and Colombia are partners in pursuance of energy security. He said that Indian oil company ONGC Videsh Limited has a producing asset in Colombia as a joint venture with Chinese company Sinopec. The asset has a current crude oil production of 25,000 barrels per day.

Deora also said that ONGC Videsh Limited has three offshore exploration blocks in Colombia, where OVL is the operator in two of these blocks.

He said India is ''exploring opportunities for participation in implementing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and improved oil recovery (IOR) projects in the existing fields of Colombia.''

Prior to the signing of the MoU, the two ministers discussed the greater participation of Indian entities in exploration and production in Colombia, and projects for improved/enhanced oil recovery from existing fields, training oil and gas sector technologists from Colombia in India's state-of-the-art facilities, and the possibilities of production and blending of bio-fuels.

Colombia is the fifth-largest hydrocarbon rich country in South America, with proven crude oil reserves of 1.54 billion barrels according to the Oil and Gas Journal 2005. It produces almost 525 thousand barrels per day of oil.