Panama is carrying out studies for potential oil exploration, hoping that recently discovered oil fields in neighboring Colombia close to Panama’s border could extend into Panama. Panama is 100-percent dependent on crude oil and refined oil products imports, although it is home to one of the most crucial shipping lanes in the world, the Panama Canal. Now energy officials in Panama hope that the oil fields found in Colombia may extend as far as Panama. In addition, a geological survey, the first in 30 years, found signs that there could be oil and gas in Panama’s section of the Caribbean Sea in an area connected with three natural gas wells in Colombia, energy officials said early this year. ION Geophysical Corporation, for example, has been expanding its data library on Panama, saying last year that recent exploration success offshore Colombia immediately next to Panama’s Caribbean coast spiked the interest […]