Lower Magdelena

Commentary

The basin has been extensively explored, and new discoveries continue to be made using modern technology. The new de la Espriella government has reopened new exploration contracts, although the higher tax take, legal certainty and security remain to be addressed. Outlook: Neutral.

Updated

October 7, 2026

Location

Description

The Lower Magdalena Valley Basin (LMB) of northern Colombia is a triangular, Oligocene-to-Recent transtensional basin, interpreted as the forearc basin associated with subduction of the Caribbean Plate beneath South America. It lies between the Central Cordillera and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and is bounded to the west and north by the Romeral fault system; its basement is the northward continuation of the Central Cordillera terranes (Permo-Triassic metasediments intruded by Late Cretaceous granitoids). The basin complex covers more than 87,000sq km and includes the Plato, San Jorge and Sinú sub-basins, with a sedimentary fill exceeding 12,000m, predominantly of Tertiary age. Exploration to date has yielded a number of small to moderate-size fields.

Summary

The Basin has been extensively explored, although new discoveries continue to be made leveraging modern technology.