Colombia sees $1.7 bln in 2007 oil investments

SANTA MARTA, Colombia, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Colombia will get $1.7 billion in oil and gas exploration investment in 2007, mostly from foreign companies, as the country races to avoid becoming an net oil importer, the government said on Monday.

Growth in Colombia's petroleum sector has been stunted by the country's four-decade-old guerrilla war, in which rebels often bomb oil pipelines and energy installations.

"For 2008, the companies' investment budgets are still not approved, but this year they are proposing $1.7 billion," Colombian Mining and Energy Minister Hernan Martinez told reporters on Monday.

If the figure is correct, 2007 will be the third year in a row for Colombia to draw $1.5 billion or more in petroleum and gas exploration and production investments.

Colombia, Latin America's No. 6 oil producer, is trying to bolster crude production and investment in an effort to avoid becoming a net oil importer in about five years.

Total foreign direct investment in Colombia is expected to reach a record $7 billion this year thanks in part to President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed crackdown on leftist rebels. His hard-line security policies have cut urban crime and bolstered economic growth in the Andean country.