Six mostly foreign companies have so far made bids to explore for oil in 21 areas in Colombia under a new system that seeks to boost investment and find new deposits to increase the nation’s reserves, a senior government official said. Under the new system, approved in early August by former President Juan Manuel Santos’s administration, companies can bid to explore in areas not yet offered by the government. “We are very satisfied with the first results,” Orlando Velandia, president of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), told Reuters late on Thursday. He said all bids were for the continental zone, which tends to be cheaper than offshore. The names of the companies are confidential, he said. Velandia said Colombia, Latin America’s fourth […]