Canadian independent Gran Tierra Energy has announced the sale of its oil businesses in Colombia and Ecuador for $133 billion to Paris-listed Maurel & Prom, a global oil and gas exploration and production company 72.65% owned by an upstream subsidiary of Indonesia’s Pertamina as its international business proxy.
With the divestiture, Gran Tierra exits South America, emerging debt free to reposition its investment strategy towards funding growth opportunities in Canada and Azerbaijan, Gran Tierra said in a news release on 4 August.
Gran Tierra’s South American assets represent 29,000 B/D of the company’s average working-interest (before royalties) in 1H 2026, approximately 144 million bbl of proved-plus-probable reserves, and approximately 1.4 million gross acres across the Middle Magdalena Valley, Putumayo, and Llanos basins in Colombia, and the Oriente Basin in Ecuador, the company said.
Growing Business Bigger in Colombia
The sale also includes Gran Tierra’s 49% working interest in the Tisquirama block (containing the Tisquirama and San Roque fields) with Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol in a deal that closed in May.
Tisquirama sits adjacent to the crown jewel of Gran Tierra’s divested assets—the Acordionero field in the Middle Magdalena Valley, which produces 15,000 to 16,000 B/D of crude oil, accounting for over 50% of the entire sales transaction's value, according to the Calgary-based independent.
Acordionero’s inclusion into Maurel & Prom’s portfolio significantly strengthens the Indonesian proxy’s positions in South America. Maurel & Prom currently produces almost exclusively natural gas in the Sinú-9 in Colombia’s Lower Magdalena Valley through a joint venture with Calgary-based NG Energy International.
Maurel & Prom also holds 40% interest in a Venezuelan oil producing asset with PDVSA, although sanctions have constrained its development.
Olivier de Langavant, CEO of Maurel & Prom, said, “We are acquiring a high-quality portfolio combining a large operated production base, long-life reserves, established infrastructure and a substantial inventory of development and exploration opportunities.
“We are also delighted to enter Ecuador,” he said, adding that, by 2029-2030 “we see a clear pathway to increasing production from the acquired portfolio to around 40,000 B/D (working interest).”
Gran Tierra’s Grand Vision
Gran Tierra’s President and CEO Gary Guidry noted that his company’s “… agreement to divest of our Colombia and Ecuador business realizes the significant value we have created in these assets and marks a deliberate repositioning of the company.”
During Gran Tierra’s 5 August earnings call, Chief Operating Officer Sébastien Morin said the oil-focused Dawson Clearwater play and the exploration and development-oriented Mount Head play, both in Alberta, Canada, “are expected to be a focus of our 2027 drilling activity.”
“Clearwater benefits from shallow depths and low-cost horizontal multilateral development, while Mount Head targets light oil and broadens our commodity mix in Canada. Both plays are also suited to waterflooding … ,” he said.
In February, Gran Tierra signed an exploration, development, and production-sharing contract with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR for the onshore Guba-Khazaryani region situated along the oil pipeline route to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Azerbaijan’s state news agency reported.
Under the terms of the agreement, Gran Tierra holds 65% operating interest in the acreage, which is located 160 km (100 miles) northwest of Baku near the Russian border. The exploration program includes the acquisition of airborne gravity data, 3D seismic surveys, and exploration drilling.
The transaction with Maurel & Prom is expected to close on or about 31 December 2026, according to Gran Tierra.