On the Colombian side of the 224-kilometer gas pipeline between Maracaibo, Venezuela, and La Guajira, Colombia, which leaders Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro aim to use for the importation of Venezuelan gas to Colombia, is Energy Transitions S.A.S. ESP, operating under the abbreviation ETSAS.
ETSAS is a fledgling company founded via a private document on March 7, 2019, with a subscribed capital of only $10 million, $5 million paid, and an authorized amount of $500 million, as reported by Norbey Quevedo in the Investigative Journalism Agency (API).
The founding partners are David Ángel Becerra and Alejandro Navas Ramírez, the son of retired General Alejandro Navas Ramos, who reached the peak of his military career in 2011 when then-President Juan Manuel Santos appointed him as commander of the Armed Forces, a position he held until August 17, 2013, when he became ambassador to Argentina.
The company owned by General Navas’s son aims to capture the lucrative business of importing gas from Venezuela, which could stifle national production following the repeated announcement by Mining Minister Irene Vélez that Colombia will refrain from signing new contracts for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, despite a gas prospectivity of at least 30 years.
The corporate purpose of ETSAS is the marketing of electric energy and natural gas, as well as associated activities related to distribution, generation, and marketing both in the country and abroad.
In August of that same year, Navas Ramírez, in his role as partner and legal representative of the firm, changed its main activity to the marketing of electric energy, which was recorded in the company’s documents.
Then, in March 2022, an ordinary shareholders’ meeting was held where they decided to increase the subscribed and paid capital to $200 million.
Regarding the financial statements, the company reported a current asset of $484,971,469 in its first year of operation, 2019. It also showed a net worth of $12,643,081, with ordinary activity income of $18,356,271. Operational expenses amounted to $10,458,786, yielding profits of $2,643,061, with a record of two employees.
With the State, the company has only entered into two contracts. One in August 2020 for $24,380,720 with the Cáqueza mayor’s office for the assessment, georeferencing, and updating of LED technology in public lighting infrastructure.
The other contract was also with the Cáqueza mayor’s office to replace some lightbulbs in the municipality for $13,633,104, signed on August 12, 2020.
Alejandro Navas, former commander of the Armed Forces of Colombia
Despite the partners of ETSAS not officially commenting on the company’s experience and activities, this Agency learned of their arguments to participate in the business with Venezuela. The company claims it was created to assist in the energy transition and additionally asserts that it has approval and registration with the Gas Market Manager as a natural gas importing agent.
Regarding their capability to manage such a large scale business, they argue that their only partners, Alejandro Navas and David Àngel, each carry more than 26 years of experience in relevant projects within the sector.
In the case of 42-year-old Navas, he served as commercial vice president of Gas at Canacol Energy, one of the largest producers in Colombia, a period during which Canacol reportedly established itself as one of the leading gas producers in the market.
His partner David Ángel, 38, highlights his leadership in marketing processes at Ecopetrol, the biggest producer in the country, managing over 350,000 MBTUD in long-term contract.
A commercial activity that close sources to the company state originated in 2020 when Prodata Energy sought out a company in Colombia to help them understand the market, as they had just acquired an export permit for gas assigned by the Ministry of People’s Power for Oil of the neighboring country.
According to ETSAS files, Prodata purchases from private fields in Venezuela with the option to monetize in international markets. In this context, they were interested in analyzing the feasibility of exporting to Colombia. The consultant Prodata had for these matters was familiar with the Colombian firm due to prior work done in gas exports to Venezuela.
However, the local company clarified that the gas import project from Venezuela to Colombia is a private venture, emphasizing that at no point does PDVSA sell gas to Prodata for them to sell to Energy Transitions; the Venezuelan state company granted Prodata an export permit, who then buys the gas from private producers for subsequent marketing.
The Colombian firm also highlighted its role as Prodata’s counterpart in a gas supply contract and stated that the regulatory framework for gas importation to Colombia does not require government approval.
The business between the two countries came to light in mid-February of this year. The digital native media, Armando Info revealed the connection between the fledgling Colombian firm Energy Transitions, ETSAS, and the Venezuelan company Prodata Energy.
This company, as reported by Blomberg in November 2022, signed a 30-year contract with the Venezuelan state company PDVSA to supply the Colombian company with 25 million cubic feet of natural gas daily through the Antonio Ricaurte pipeline.
Additionally, the media outlet revealed that Prodata Energy is the new name of Production Data Acquisition Wire Line, a hydrocarbon company established in 1971 in Zulia state.
With another detail: behind this firm, which has seemingly risen from the ashes in recent months, are Bernardo Arosio Hobaica from the construction sector and Jorge Miroslav Jara Salas, a Venezuelan-Peruvian who worked at Petroalianza, a former PDVSA contractor registered in Barbados and Cyprus according to Armando Info.
These names behind the Venezuelan company appeared to have strengthened as Gustavo Petro gained traction in the polls in Colombia, particularly between the first round in May 2022 and his inauguration on August 7 of that same year.
Nineteen days after Gustavo Petro was elected president, Bernardo Arosio and Jorge Jara registered in Caracas the firm Investment Holding Corp, whose corporate purpose involves the holding and management of all kinds of shares or participations in commercial companies.
Then, two days before Petro’s inauguration, Holding Corp acquired the shares of Prodata Energy. Armando Info’s investigation unveiled that although the company’s website indicated a founding date in 2020, the incorporation officially took place in February 2022, marking the change of name from Production Data Acquisition Wire Line to Prodata Energy.
In early March 2022, the polling firm Invamer revealed the results of a survey conducted with 1,504 participants, showing Gustavo Petro leading with 55.8% in voting intention, followed by Sergio Fajardo at 40.2% in a hypothetical second round.
By that time, Prodata Energy transferred its office from Zulia state to the capital, Caracas, establishing its headquarters in an office at the Centro Lido for both Prodata and Holding Corp.
According to the report, neither Arosio nor Jara appear in the documentation of the purchase of Prodata because it was executed through representatives. One of these representatives, Roberto Villalba Rincón, is an engineer who held high-ranking positions at PDVSA until July 2021 and now serves as president of Prodata.
A month prior, Jorge Jara made a statement for the portal El Mercurio Web that went unnoticed in Colombia despite its significance. “The conditions are set for a private entity to enter the agreement, so that PDVSA would only facilitate the existing infrastructure, not managed by them but by the private entity, enabling the export of Venezuelan gas to Colombia,” said petroleum engineer and Holding partner, Jorge Jara.
This assertion is odd considering that six months earlier, in August 2021, the General Comptroller of the Republic issued the first warning of its kind regarding the Pacific Regasification Plant, a project estimated at 2.7 trillion that was to be granted in perpetual concession by the national government to private entities.
Technically, the control agency demonstrated that the construction of the Regasification Plant would impact the operations of the Port of Buenaventura, according to the General Maritime Directorate, Dimar, and the gas pipeline necessitated construction through indigenous settlements and protected jungles in the Pacific. Additionally, it would be funded through user rates that would see an increase on bills immediately upon the award of the project.
The technical rebuttal from then-Controller Carlos Felipe Cordoba to the Ivan Duque government regarding the project, which faced technical and environmental concerns, was the latest word on natural gas imports. Among other issues, figures from the National Hydrocarbons Agency, ANH, indicated that the country had gas prospectivity for at least 30 years when in fact what was needed was efficacy in transportation.
One fact remains: one of the most controversial ministries during Petro’s era has been Mines and Energy, led by Irene Vélez. Her multiple missteps, particularly regarding the discourse on new contracts for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation that should ensure the country’s energy security and resources that account for 5% of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
In fact, the evident disadvantages of Colombia renouncing new hydrocarbon contracts led to the conclusion of Deputy Ministers Belliza Ruiz and recently Giovanny Franco Sepulveda.
It also cost the job of one industry expert, Ecopetrol President Felipe Bayón, who achieved historical records. In the latest report, the Colombian state company recorded revenues of $159.5 trillion at the end of 2022, equating to 10.9% of last year’s GDP of $2.463 trillion.
The company under Bayón distributed dividends of $42.4 trillion, the equivalent of more than two tax reforms. A director who will remain in office until December 31, replacement is yet to be appointed by President Gustavo Petro.
Another official who could not withstand the priority of ideological debate over technical matters was Carlos Gustavo Cano, President of Ecopetrol’s Board of Directors, who resigned through a letter outlining the uncertainty surrounding the sector.
Ultimately, on both sides of the natural gas import business is General Navas’s son, Alejandro Navas Ramírez, and his partner David Ángel Becerra, who is also part of the board of Integral Plus Energy, a company established in 2021 owned by the Venezuelan and Maduro regime ally, Jorge Jara.
Energy Transition, ETSAS, the company that has entered into two contracts with the Cáqueza mayor’s office in Cundinamarca for about $40 million (approximately US$8,333) and does not record any real estate assets under the company or its legal representative, is positioned as the Colombian side in the Ballena Field in La Guajira to manage the 25 million cubic feet of natural gas daily that it aims to send from Venezuela.
Last November, Ambassador Armando Benedetti stated that the transportation of gas is static, under the responsibility of Gas Natural Transportadora, TGI, owned by Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo or Ecopetrol. However, all paths lead to Navas, Becerra, and close associates of the regime or Venezuelan Minister Tareck El Aissami.
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