"To encourage the natural gas consumption and deeply convinced that this is a contribution to provide better standards of life, natural gas producers, carriers and distributors members of Naturgas have decided to make a new contribution to the national development through an agreement that ensures the financial support for conversion to natural gas of 46,200 vehicles," the association announced through a press release.

Since the cost of gasoline is continuously rising and is about 40 percent higher than CNG price, natural gas related companies will encourage the use of the gaseous fuel through subsidized conversions. Ecopetrol, TGI, Gazel and Gas Natural Fenosa have already demonstrated their commitment to the promotion of this alternative fuel.

The funding was agreed at the opening of the XV Naturgas Conference, which takes place in the Hilton Hotel in Cartagena de Indias and was attended by the President Juan Manuel Santos. As part of his speech, the president stated: "Today, the country has enough reserves to be self-sufficient until 2017 and we continue to move on the exploration of fields to meet both domestic needs and exportation requirements."