Colombia

As of mid-2014 Colombia was on the verge of tapping its vast reserves of shale and offshore oil and gas. Exploiting these resources will help the country’s hydrocarbons sector tackle its two primary challenges: low reserves and limited production growth. Despite its position as one of the world’s leading producers, Colombia has an extremely low reserves-to-production...

Private companies and Ecopetrol have poured money into pipeline construction projects in the last several years to increase capacity, improve distribution throughout the country and decrease transport by road. A mountainous geography and substandard road networks make shipping by truck an expensive and slow proposition. However, many oil companies working in Colombia...

In line with growth in the insurance sector, reinsurance is becoming increasingly important and new reinsurers are entering the Colombian market. The rising demand for coverage in life and non-life segments, as well as the anticipated development of the infrastructure programme, should offer opportunities to providers.

An attractive market for international underwriters, Colombia has demonstrated consistent economic growth and macroeconomic stability in the past decade, which in turn has resulted in a growing middle class and increasing employment formality. It also maintains upside potential for the development of the sector since insurance penetration is still low (2.4%) compared to...