Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol SA will split its participation in three oil fields equally with Canada's Parex Resources Inc., which will operate the fields, the government said April 1.

Colombia recently modified contractual terms for offshore exploration and launched a permanent bidding process in an effort to boost its long-stagnant oil sector.

Investment in at least 15 wells in the Aguas Blancas, Boranda and De Mares fields in northeastern Colombia will reach at least $150 million, the national hydrocarbons agency (ANH) said in a statement.

The ANH did not provide further details or say what financial arrangement the two companies had reached under the agreement.

The three fields cover more than 92,000 hectares (227,300 acres), the statement said.

"We have been able to sign three contracts and incorporate a first-class partner in our activities in the Medio del Magdalena Valley," Ecopetrol vice-president Juan Manuel Rojas said in the statement.

Offshore