The bilateral agreement encompasses reciprocal energy flows beyond electricity imports to Venezuela. Rodríguez specified that gas interconnection infrastructure will enable Venezuela to supply natural gas to Colombia while establishing joint export capacity to third-party international markets. The framework builds on agreements formalized during Colombia’s 2025 CELAC presidency in Bogotá, transitioning regional energy integration proposals into operational binational mechanisms. Colombia and Venezuela recorded bilateral trade of $1.2 billion in the previous year prior to this expanded energy cooperation.
The projects face operational constraints despite political advancement. Spanish businessman Antonio Blasco Muñoz established two recently-incorporated Colombian entities, Activa Process Management Green Projects and HT Industries Colombia, to manage transmission operations despite minimal capitalization and no prior sector experience. Colombian energy regulator UPME approved Activa’s international interconnection application within one month of submission in June 2025, an unusually compressed timeframe. However, neither company has completed registration in Colombia’s electricity market, and state enterprises ISA and Cens have withheld operational commitments pending authorization from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The interconnection would restore the dormant San Mateo-Corozo transmission line abandoned years prior. Colombian mining minister Edwin Palma indicated intentions to import Venezuelan gas and restore electric connectivity before year-end 2026. Rodríguez and Petro also committed to immediate intelligence-sharing mechanisms and coordinated military operations against narcotrafficking, fuel smuggling, and criminal organizations operating across the 2,219-kilometer binational frontier extending from the Caribbean to Amazonian regions.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
