Houston American Energy Corp. agreed to increase its stake in a Colombian project through the acquisition on May 27 of additional interest in Hupecol Meta LLC.

Based in Houston, Houston American Energy is a publicly-traded independent energy company with interests in oil and natural gas wells, minerals and prospects in both Colombia and the U.S. The company’s U.S. assets are focused in the Delaware Basin in Texas.

Through its membership interest in Hupecol Meta, Houston American now holds a roughly 11% interest in the Venus Exploration area located in the CPO-11 block in northeastern Colombia and an approximately 5.5% interest in the remainder of the block.

Drilling operations on Houston American’s first well in the Venus Exploration area are now ongoing, according to a company release on May 27.

Hupecol Meta owns the 639,405 gross acre CPO-11 block in the Llanos Basin, comprised of the 69,128 acre Venus Exploration area, operated by Hupecol, and 570,277 acres which were 50% farmed out to Parex Resources by Hupecol.

In total, the CPO-11 block covers almost 1,000 sq miles with multiple identified leads and prospects expected to support a multiwell drilling program, the company release said.