Colombia Opens a Tracked Exception for Thermal Fuel Supply

Colombia’s thermal fuel rule creates a conditional way around a procurement bottleneck. Resolution 40559, dated October 13 and published on October 14, sets out how qualifying generators can seek access to additional wholesale suppliers when operational, logistical or product-availability constraints threaten electricity-system reliability.

Permission Follows Evidence of a Constraint

The measure implements the exception established by Decree 1491 of October 6. It concerns thermal plants acting as individual large consumers of ACPM diesel fuel without an intermediary. It does not open an unrestricted alternative purchasing channel for every electricity producer.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy’s Hydrocarbons Directorate examines the application. Where information is incomplete, it can require clarification or additional material. Once the requirements are met, the directorate issues authorization and sends a copy to the fuel information system, SICOM, so the temporary commercial arrangement and corresponding operating permission can be recorded.

The mechanism separates two things that can otherwise be confused during a supply disruption: identifying a possible seller and becoming authorized to buy through that route. An available wholesaler does not remove the need to demonstrate that the exceptional conditions apply.

A Temporary Route Inside the Existing Chain

Operations under the authorization must retain their SICOM registration and traceability. The rule therefore changes access to suppliers while keeping transactions visible within the regulated distribution chain. For oversight, that connection matters because a broader choice of counterparties can otherwise make it harder to follow which agent supplied a plant under an emergency arrangement.

The plant must immediately notify the directorate once the circumstances justifying the authorization have been overcome. The corresponding SICOM records can then be updated and ordinary supply arrangements resumed. The exception’s duration follows the persistence of the problem, rather than becoming a permanent purchasing privilege.

These provisions establish an administrative route for maintaining fuel access. They do not show how much additional fuel has been delivered or how much generation has been protected. The operational lesson is narrower: flexibility can be introduced at the supplier interface while evidence, transaction records and the obligation to end exceptional treatment remain explicit.