Canacol entered the gas business in Colombia through the acquisition of Shona Energy Company in late 2012, which gave the company its current interests in the Esperanza E&E Contract and the VIM-21 E&P Contract. The company’s gas-focused acreage was expanded with the acquisition from OGX of the VIM-5 E&P Contract in 2014. The VIM-33, VMM-45 and VMM-49 E&P were awarded in a bid round administered by the ANH in 2019.The VIM-44 E&P Contract and the VMM-47 E&P Contract were awarded in a bid round administered by the ANH in 2020, while the VMM-53 and VMM-10-1 E&P Contracts were awarded in a bid round administered by the ANH in 2021.

In early 2014, after completing a thorough review of the exploration potential, Canacol began a large and ultimately highly successful exploration and appraisal drilling effort that has dramatically expanded our natural gas reserves base with 35 successful exploration and appraisal wells (out of 43 wells drilled), including new discoveries on the VIM-21 and VIM-5 contract areas, and proving the multi-zone potential of the company’s prospective acreage position with new discoveries in the Porquero Formation, in addition to a number of important discoveries in the main producing reservoir in the Cienaga de Oro Formation (CDO).  From the Shona acquisition to year-end 2023, Canacol has added 900 BCF of 2P gas reserves through discoveries and technical revisions.